The Visitor
by SGCFan4ever
Summary: Jack is stuck babysitting a very unusual alien girl. As they seek for answers who she is and where she came from, SG1 finds themselves drawing closer to her. But when secrets from her past surface, things could change dramatically. SJ!
1. Chapter 1

Title: The Visitor…

Summary: Jack is stuck babysitting a very unusual alien girl. As they seek for answers who she is and where she came from, SG-1 finds themselves drawing closer to her. But when secrets from her past surface, things could change dramatically. S/J!

Setting: Late season seven

Pairings: Sam/Jack

Rating: T for safety (PG-13)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the 'real' characters in this story, nor do I own any rights whatsoever to the TV show 'Stargate SG-1.' That show and all related indicia are copyright MGM/UA and Showtime Inc. I am receiving no profit whatsoever from the creation and posting of this story. Thank you.

A/N: Hello everyone! I know it's been a long time since I posted a story. I've been working on my sequel to _He'll be the death of us all_, and it's almost complete. Anyways, I wasn't sure I would post this story… but I guess it's worth a shot. Enjoy!

Ch 1: The unexpected visitors…

Jack O'Neill reached tiredly into his fridge and pulled out a beer. He twisted off the cap and tossed it into the trashcan, doing an impromptu victory dance when it made it. After kicking aside several objects in his way, he proceeded outside. Once there, he made his way up the ladder to his balcony roof. Setting the beer next to a plate of cold pizza, he settled into his favorite chair. With a few bites, he finished the pizza off and began gazing into his telescope.

A couple minutes later, he leaned back with a sigh. Looking at the stars wasn't quite the same once you had actually _been_ on one. He took another sip of beer and relaxed in his chair.

Suddenly the small balcony was filled with a bright, white light. Jack unconsciously scooted back in his chair, causing it to tip over; his beer bottle flew out of his hand and shattered on the ground. He grumbled and rubbed his shoulder; maybe he was getting to old for this. He quickly stumbled onto his feet.

"Thor!" a little surprised to see the Asgard standing on his roof. If Thor wanted him, he would normally beam him aboard, not the other way around. The Colonel looked around the neighborhood carefully, making sure no one had seen what had just happened. "Thor, in the house?"

Thor blinked slowly. "Very well." A moment later, the white light engulfed them and they found themselves in Jack's disaster of a kitchen. "O'Neill, it is good to see you again."

Jack smiled and nodded; he had missed his little gray friend. "Yeah. What's wrong, buddy?"

Thor blinked again. "O'Neill, I have… I-"

"Thor," Jack interrupted, his small smile growing wider by the second. "Are… are you stammering? No! You can't be!"

"O'Neill!" Thor interrupted, sounding slightly annoyed, "A child has managed to come aboard my shop when I was not onboard."

"… What?" He wasn't expecting that. Jack wanted to laugh, but he guessed that wouldn't help his small friend's mood. "_How_?"

Thor stood silent for a moment. "I am still unsure," he replied. "I was not onboard for many days as I was assisting-"

"Thor!" Jack snapped, holding his hands up for him to stop. "Get on with it." He wondered what this had to do with him. After all, he knew for certain it wasn't _his _child that was on Thor's ship…

"I am sorry. I returned to my ship some time later, not aware that a child was present. I departed and a day later I found her."

Jack stood there, waiting somewhat impatiently for him to explain who 'she' was, but he didn't. "And… what happened next?"

Thor continued. "I found her as I was beaming up my sustenance. She had been eating it." He paused before continuing. "I immediately began to interrogate her, but I did not receive any answers, nor did she tell me anything about herself. I am still unsure why and how she came aboard."

Jack stared at him, tempted to ask if the kid liked his food- he had never tasted it, but Carter didn't seem to care for it very much. "And… what has this all got to do with me? I can safely say she isn't my kid, seeing as how I don't actually _HAVE_ a kid."

"I am aware of that O'Neill. That is not why I came to you." He blinked. "I do not know how to handle a young human child, and I was wondering… perhaps you would-"

Jack knew instantly where this conversation was going. "No, no, no! Thor! I have better things to do with my free time then to baby-sit! I save the world! Why can't you ever pick someone else? Like, Daniel or Carter to help you?" He looked around, hoping Thor had inadvertently beamed his beer down along with him. Oh, right. It broke. Damn.

Thor tilted his head; he seemed to be giving Jack's words some thought. "I am unsure," he answered honestly.

Jack sighed and rubbed the back of his head. What on Earth would he do with a kid? He hadn't had much experience since Charlie died, and, quite frankly, he wasn't sure he wanted to. "What do you want me to do with her?"

"I do not know- whatever it is that you do with a human child, I suppose. I should be leaving for my next mission by now. But I can not, of course, not take her with me." Thor said. "I thought perhaps she might stay with you. And maybe you could find out where she lives. And when I return, I can return her home."

What about the planet she came from? What about her parents? They would be worried. The little guy had to take all of that into account. "Baby-sit her?" Jack asked. "Are you nuts? I have work! I can't watch a kid! And what about her parents? What about the planet she came from? She's got to know someone on there!"

"O'Neill, I have thought of those questions. There is no other life sign on that planet. There was none when I arrived either. She must have come through the Stargate. Please, O'Neill," Thor said, "She is not difficult. She is not like most human children I have encountered. She is… _different_."

"Since when have you been an expert on human children?" Jack asked as he raised his eyebrows in such a way that even Teal'c would be proud. A moment later, he realized that the Asgard had been observing the Tau'ri for some time. As in before he was born.

"O'Neill, I cannot take her with me. It is too dangerous for a young child. And I do not wish to abandon her on a planet because you are unwilling to take care of her."

Jack frowned at Thor's words. "Where is she now?"

Thor already seemed relieved. "She is still onboard my ship. I do not believe she has any intention of leaving it."

Jack popped his neck. "Okay… um… well, you could beam her on down here, and maybe I can get something out of her." His words surprised him. Did he really say to beam her down?

Thor looked pleased. "Thank you, O'Neill." The Asgard was gone a moment later.

Jack thought back to his shattered beer; with a sigh he reached into the fridge for another one. A moment later, the bright light was back. However, this time instead of Thor, a young girl appeared. She looked to be around eight or nine. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she stood there looking rather surprised and clueless.

Jack quickly took a sip of beer before putting the bottle down. "Hey…" was all he said. How else would you begin a conversation with an alien child?

The girl ignored Jack's welcome. She just stood there, staring coldly into Jack's eyes as if he was a criminal. She didn't look at her new surroundings, which surprised Jack.

"So," he began, trying to force some welcome into his voice as he walked towards her, studying her as he talked. She had long brown curly hair that came to her waist; her eyes were a greened hazel then most. She wore a hideous old, brown ripped dress that looked like it had gone through many generations. She also appeared not to have any shoes. She was thin, very thin- too thin, in his opinion. "Thor ol' buddy says you've been hanging out with him lately. Got a name?"

The way the girl looked at him gave him the creeps. She hadn't blinked the whole conversation; she was tense. Very tense.

Jack hesitated before continuing, "Let me repeat myself… do you have a name?" He waited for a reply of any kind, and received none. If she was listening to him, she did an excellent job of not reacting to his words. Maybe she just didn't understand him.

With a silent sigh, he decided to change the subject, so he said the first thing that popped into his head. "So, are you hungry?" he waited. "I know Thor's food isn't the best, just ask Carter, she'll tell you…"

Finally, the small girl broke eye contact with him. She looked down and focused on his shoes, as if wondering what they were.

Jack smiled proudly. He lifted up on of his feet and pointed it out to her. "Like 'em?" he asked, "They cost me a fair penny." She looked back up at him cautiously and blinked for the first time. "How old are you?" he placed his hands on his hips; afraid he wasn't going to get anywhere anytime soon.

The girl held her gaze for a moment, before she slowly began to look over the room. She stared at every item suspiciously, as if it would jump out and hurt her.

Jack began to wave his hands in front of her face wildly, trying to get her attention. "Hello?" A minute later he stopped. "My name's Jack. What's yours?" he asked, gesturing to her.

The girl took a small step towards the living room, peeking around the room before pausing. She glanced back around the kitchen, before she walked contentedly over to the table and sat down on a chair, folding her hands into her lap as she did so.

"Okay..." He picked up his beer and followed her over to the table. Pulling a chair out for himself, he slid it next to her before sitting down. He placed his beer on the table, knowing he would, no doubt, need it soon. "So, what were you doing on Thor's ship?"

The girl didn't bother to look up at him; instead, she concentrated on her folded hands and licked her dry lips nervously.

Jack sighed once more and scratched his head. He was getting too old for this. "So, you feel like keeping everything to yourself then, huh?"

The young girl began to nibble her bottom lip.

Jack nodded slowly. "I thought so." He stood up. "Well…" he opened the fridge for the hundredth time that day, and began to rummage through its contents before pulling out a zip-lock bag of leftover pizza. He took a plate down from the cabinet above him, and tossed a few pieces on it.

He glanced over at the girl, who was still staring into her hands as if they were the most interesting things in the room. He pushed the microwave open and waited for the pizza to heat up, before walking over to her and placing the plate on her lap. "I hope you don't mind dead pizza, because that's all I got," he muttered apologetically, "I think it's better then Thor's cubes of food, though."

The girl looked at the food curiously, wondering what it was.

"You eat it," Jack explained, as if he read her thoughts. Reaching over, he took a piece from her and bit into it. "Mmm… it's good." He smiled.

The girl sniffed the pizza; her face turned into a look of disgust. She gently set the plate down on the table, before turning back to her hands.

Jack shook his head and gave up. Sitting back down next to her, he looked over at the crowded table; he spotted yesterday's paper he didn't finish. He grabbed it; not realizing his beer was on top. The bottle fell to the ground and shattered, causing him to jump slightly, surprised. He quickly turned to the girl who hadn't even flinched. Jack abandoned the paper and leaned closer. It would all make sense to him. "Can you even… hear me?" he asked softly.

The girl didn't move.

Jack sat frozen for a moment. "Y-you-" he rubbed his head nervously. "You really can't hear me, can you?" After another minute of silence, he rubbed his forehead that suddenly began to hurt. Great. A deaf child, that's just what he needed. What was he going to do?

He had no doubt Carter would still be awake, testing something or another at the SGC. She would come up with something- when all else fails, ask Carter. He stood up and looked down at the kid once more, making his mind up what he was going to do. He reached down and took her hand, and began to pull it.

But the child didn't like that one bit. Staring intensely at him, she immediately yanked her hand away from him.

Jack wanted to roll his eyes, but he tried to understand her fear. "Kid…" what else would he call her? "We've got to go, okay?" The girl stared at him as he motioned going outside as best he could. "Come on!" he was losing his patience; he thought he may snap at any second. "Please?" he held his hand out for her to take. "Please?"

The poor girl looked beyond confused, she watched the old man closely. After a minute, she finally seemed to understand. She hesitated before slowly and cautiously standing up.

Jack smiled and held out his hand. Finally, he was getting somewhere. "Thank you," he said. "Okay, come on, we've got to go."

The girl crossed her arms stubbornly, refusing to even touch his hand, but she did slowly follow Jack out of his house. Once outside, the girl stared at the bright full moon; she blinked slowly, causing a single teardrop to fall.

Jack turned back when he noticed she wasn't following him anymore. "Kid? Hey, kid! This way!" he gestured to the car.

The girl didn't move at first but after a few moments, she turned to Jack. She didn't know what they were doing. She didn't even know if she could trust him, but she took the risk anyway, and walked over to his side. Jack opened the door for her and gave her the slightest shove into the car. At first the child looked upset, but she ducked her head and sat down in the seat.

Jack smiled at his success. He quickly shut the door and hurried over to the drivers seat. He quickly buckled himself in and grabbed the keys out of his pocket, placing them into the ignition. He probably would have driven off, but he caught the girl staring at him curiously from the corner of his eye.

"What?" he asked. She blinked. After a second, he noticed she didn't have a seat belt on. Leaning over, he began to pull it over her, but she didn't like that; she yanked it away from him and threw it behind her.

Jack shook his head. "No, no, no!" he touched his belt. "You need to be buckled. It's the law on this planet." He unbuckled himself then re-buckled it. "See?"

The girl didn't budge; she just stared. So Jack redid the whole seatbelt thing a couple times before the girl slowly reached for hers. Gently, she pulled it over her and buckled it.

Jack smiled. "That's it! You got it!" he said proudly. "Good job."

The girl turned to the window, searching for the moon once more; a small smile crept over her face…

* * *

Thank you for reading this, and please let me know what you think!

I'm looking for a beta; if anyone is interested, please let me know! My sister is getting caught up in her stories, and helping others with theirs- she barely has time to read over mine, so, I would really appreciate it!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you, roseofthegate for editing this for me! And thanks everyone else for reviewing! I'm glad this story is worth posting. (Or, so far at least!)

Ch 2: The Girl...

Getting past security with the young child was harder then Jack had thought that it was going to be. So, after spending half an hour talking to the infuriating airman, he was on his way to Carter's lab. However he knew he wouldn't get there anytime soon. The girl was so slow; she took her time to make sure she looked at everything. There were so many new things she had never seen before.

Jack was getting irritated with her. "Come on," he finally said, they were only three doors away from her lab. He felt like grabbing the kid and carrying her the rest of the way, but he guessed that wouldn't earn her trust. So he let her take her time, and finally they arrived at the lab.

Sam was on her laptop, he should have guessed, typing around a million words per second. She turned when she heard the door open. "Colonel?" she asked, clearly surprised. "I thought you left already." She quickly pressed 'save' before hopping off her chair.

"I did, Carter," Jack said, his voice full of frustration. He placed his hands on his hips and let out a sigh. "But then…" he trailed off as the girl poked her head into the room, and froze upon seeing a new person.

Sam also froze. 'What in the world was Colonel O'Neill doing with a child? Why would he bring her to the SGC? Had she missed a memo?' "Sir?" she asked cautiously. "What is going on here?"

Jack shrugged before responding. "Umm… apparently I'm… babysitting."

Sam wrinkled her forehead in confusion. "What?" She looked at the child. "Why? Who is she?" She took a step closer while the kid looked over her.

"Well, I don't know. Actually, well, okay, I do know, but… I don't." he gave her a sarcastic smile; to show her he was serious.

"Sir?"

"Well, Thor basically just dropped her into my lap. I had no say in the matter. He said that she managed to come aboard his ship, or something… a couple days after leaving the planet he noticed-"

"What planet?" Sam asked, trying to sink in all the information at once.

"He was on some planet or another, it doesn't really matter. Anyways, he found her, she wouldn't tell him where she was from, or who she was. She didn't tell him anything, anyways; he decided to leave her with me." He finished and leaned over to pat the girl's head.

Sam blinked slowly as she looked from one to the other. Thor had done some really odd things in the past, but would he really abandon a girl with Jack O'Neill?

"Oh!" Jack added, remembering his earlier discovery. "And I think she's deaf…"

"Deaf?" Sam repeated slowly.

"Yes, Carter, deaf. As in… deaf, can't hear anything. Deaf people also tend not to talk to people. They have a hard time understanding what we're saying to them, it's probably because they can't hear." He nodded.

"Yes, sir. I know what it is. I meant to say, why would you think she's deaf?"

"Why do I have to explain everything to you? Can't you just take my word for it?" he rolled his eyes. "The reason I think she's deaf, one, she didn't seem to hear me when I talked to her, and two, earlier when I grabbed my paper I knocked over my beer and it shattered, the kid didn't even flinch! She couldn't have known that it was coming unless she has eyes in the back of her head." He looked at the brown hair, looking for a sign of another pair of eyes.

Sam stood there, confused, no sure what she was supposed to do, or say. She walked closer to the two of them, and kneeled down slightly. "Hello." She said in a friendly tone and a smile on her face.

The girl looked from Sam up to Jack, licking her lips again, she moved closer to him, as if she were scared of Sam.

Jack dropped his hands to his side. "Oh! Now you like me!"

Sam straightened up. "So, Thor wants you to do what exactly with her?"

Jack shrugged. "I have no idea. Get something out of her I guess. Find out where she lives, I don't know!"

Sam nodded slowly. "Okay." She glanced back down at the girl, considering their options. "I think we should take her to Janet, sir. Just to make sure everything's okay."

"Good idea!" He said, wondering why he hadn't thought of that. "Better yet, why don't you take her?"

"She doesn't appear to like me, Colonel." Sam said as she took a couple more steps closer. The girl immediately reacted and backed up and hid behind Jack, barely peeking around his leg.

"She'll love you! Just give her a little time to warm up to you, that's all. You'll be best friends before you know it." Jack said. The child grabbed his shirt, as if it would protect her. "Won't you?"

The girl stared up at him, puzzled.

Sam sighed slightingly. "Sir. I really think Janet should take a look at her. If she's from an alien planet we have no idea what kind of diseases and other things she could have brought back, or what we could be giving her."

"Okay, Carter." He said. "Tag along?"

Sam hesitated before shrugging her shoulders. "Alright, sir."

----

Jack, Sam and their new guest walked into the infirmary. Jack had his hands on the kid's shoulders, because he had to push her the whole way there. "Finally!" He said as he spotted Janet in the corner doing something or another. "Doc! I got a visitor for you!"

"I'll be right there…" Janet said, preoccupied with the folder in her hands. She scribbled something down and turned to the small group. "So, what can I do for… you…?" Her eyes fell upon the girl with the old brown dress.

The girl trembled as she saw the slim redhead. She looked more frightened seeing Janet then she had meeting Sam. She looked up at Jack, who still had not let go of her shoulders.

"It's okay, she's great… well, unless she has one of those big honkin' needles in her hand." Jack squeezed her shoulders to let her know it was okay. "Doc, this kid needs to be checked out."

Janet abandoned the folder to a bed and stood up. "Who is 'she' exactly, Colonel?" she asked as she crossed the room towards them, not breaking eye contact with the guest.

"Her?" he pointed to the child. "Oh. I have no idea." He said with his normal sarcasm in his voice.

Sam managed to resist the urge to roll her eyes, she folded her arms and began to explain the story, or at least what she knew of it…

Janet nodded slowly. "Okay, so you think she's deaf?" she asked, once Sam was done. "Alright, I'm going to need her on the bed." She walked over to her equipment and began to get the things she would need.

"Okay." Jack said, he steered the girl by her shoulders in the direction of the beds, once there, he lifted her up onto one.

The girl felt the bed with her hands; she stared at it curiously. A very small smile spread across her face, so small, no one even noticed it.

Janet put the stethoscope into her ears and walked over to the girl. While she did this, the girl back slowly away from her, until she was almost off the bed. "Don't worry, honey, I'm not going to hurt you."

She was now right next to the bed; she moved the stethoscope closer to the child's chest, once she was two inches away the girl gasped. She pushed Janet away angrily before quickly jumping off the bed. She began to run around the room, doing her best to ignore everyone's attempt to catch her.

Jack, who had been expecting a little trouble from her, hurried over and tried to grab the child, but she was to quick for him, she quickly ducked and ran the other way. "Hey! Come here kid! It's okay, she's not going to hurt you!"

The girl found the door they came in from, she looked back at Jack who was running to her. She let out a small squeal and made a dash for the doors, but she didn't get very far before two strong arms were around her. She began to fight back, kicking and struggling to get out of the grip, but she couldn't.

"No you don't." Sam muttered, as the girl began to fight her. "You're not going anywhere." She began to walk back towards Janet, with the fighting girl in her grasp. The girl was strong for being so small.

Janet dusted herself off and pushed herself off from the ground. "Thank you, Sam." She said, picking back up the stethoscope that had fallen off. "Colonel, Sam, you're going to have to hold her down for me." The child didn't seem like she would stop kicking any time soon.

Jack nodded. "Okay." He took one of the girl's shoulders and leg and Sam took the others. The girl was still struggling to get away, but because of Jack and Sam both holding her down, she was failing miserably. "Just sit still!" Jack ordered, knowing she wouldn't.

Janet moved the stethoscope closer to the girl's chest once again. The girl tried harder then ever to get away, but Sam and Jack held onto her tightly. A tear slid down her cheek, she was so scared, anyone could tell just by looking at her. "It's okay, honey." Janet assured in a soothing tone. "You'll be okay…" Janet placed the cold metal against the girl's skin; she jumped back a little in surprise.

A moment later, Janet put the stethoscope down and smiled. "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

The girl stared at her expressionlessly.

Janet took a deep breath. "Okay, now, you're going to have to hold her really still while I draw some of her blood…"

----

Not long later, the young girl sat on the edge of an infirmary bed, clutching her arm with the band-aid on it, as if it were broken. She stared up at Janet as she walked back into the room. The look on her face spoke the words she didn't. She was NOT happy.

"Well," Janet said, walking over to the small group. She looked down at the open folder in her hands. "She's very close, but not all human. Or at least not our kind of human, it is possible she may be a little advanced. Her body is built slightly differently, and I can't be sure if she is deaf or not. But, if I had to pick one, I'd say she is. Her eardrums seem to be slightly out of whack, but that could just be the way she is."

"What are you saying?" Jack asked, pulling his hands out of his pockets. "You think she's deaf?" He had never thought he would want her to be wrong so badly. He couldn't imagine being deaf, especially as a small child.

Janet sat the folder on the bed and crossed her arms. She hated to be the barer of bad news, which unfortunately was a major role in her job. "I can't be sure."

"But you think she is?" Sam confirmed.

Janet sighed. "Yes, I do."

Jack and Sam exchanged glances before turning to the girl, who stiffened and stared right back at them, as if asking 'what are you looking at'?

"What are we going to do with her?" Sam asked, placing her hand on the girl's shoulder, before quickly moving it as the girl backed up.

"I don't know. Maybe… maybe Daniel can be of some help, he might be able to do something. Write down something in different languages…" Janet suggested. "There may be a few more ways to communicate with her, I don't know."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, okay, that's okay." He shoved his hands back into his pockets. "Kid, you ready to go?"

"I'll let you know how the other tests turn out as soon as I get them back." Janet said.

Sam nodded. "Okay, thank you for everything, Janet."

Janet smiled. "Bye-bye, kiddo. Sorry about poking you..."

----

I don't know when I'll be able to post the next chapter, but hopefully it would be soon. If not, I apologize beforehand.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, if you did, or even if you didn't, please review and let me know!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you all for reviewing! I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Thank you sooooo much Aria-wolfstar for beta'ing this for me!

-

Chapter 3: Meeting Daniel…

Sam, Jack and the young girl made their way to Daniel's office…

"Daniel?" Jack called, pushing the door open, only to reveal a rather large mess. "Don't you ever clean up this place?" He grumbled, then he spotted his friend sitting behind the large old desk, an old ancient book resting in front of him.

Daniel slowly turned his body to look at the visitor, keeping his eyes glued to the book as long as he good in a last attempt to finish the page. "What?" he muttered, finishing the page. He found Jack standing by the door looking tired and annoyed. "Oh no. I did it again, didn't I? I thought I was getting better at this… I can't believe it's morning already…" He turned to the clock. "Wait… it's… what are you doing here?"

Jack raised his eyebrows as he turned around, expecting to his 2IC and the mysterious visitor waiting behind him, as they had been a moment ago, but they weren't in sight. "Just a sec…" he left the room and immediately found them two feet away from the door.

Sam was trying to pull the young girl towards the door, doing her best not to hurt her in any way. But the girl refused to budge; she sat cross-legged on the ground.

"Carter?" Jack asked, taken back by the rather amusing sight. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like, sir?" she grunted as she pulled the girls arm, with little success. "She won't budge! I think she's too scared to go into another room - and she's putting up a pretty good fight about it, too."

Jack held back a laugh, knowing that it would probably make the situation worse. "Need some help?" he asked instead, as he leaned against the wall with a grin.

"Thank you, sir, but I think I'm more then capable enough to move a stubborn child into Daniel's office." She blew some hair out of her face in a frustrated huff.

Jack nodded. "Right. I didn't say that you couldn't," he said, holding his hands up in a defensive position, not wanting the brunt of Carter's wrath. "But she IS an alien child, after all, she may have some unique powers that can resist even _your_ strength."

Sam let out a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes. "Maybe…" a moment later she turned to him. "Fine, sir, if you really want to help, why don't _you_ bring her?" she said, sweeping her hands towards the child for emphasis.

Jack grinned at the challenge. "Okay, then," he said, and he moved over to the child and held out his hand. "Come on, let's do this again." He waited for the girl to accept his hand.

The girl narrowed her eyes at the extended offer that was his hand. Last time she trusted him she ended up getting poked by a woman in a white coat. She glared at him and backed away as much as she could, sliding along the ground.

Sam let out a laugh. "Maybe she has some super powers that can resist your hand as well, sir."

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny, Carter. Just thought it would be a good idea to take a different approach." He pulled his hand back. "Okay… that didn't work. What about bribing her? I mean, she does look hungry, doesn't she? Why don't we go get something for her and-"

"Sir, we can't bribe her with food! We're not going to starve her just because she doesn't trust us. If I were in her shoes, I don't think I would trust you either; look at what happened last time, with Janet and the needles…"

"Oh, she didn't mind that, she's a tough girl, she can take it. Right?" he bent over to look at the child. Under her reproachful glare (if looks could kill!) he reconsidered. "Well… maybe she is just a little mad with us… huh?"

"I think that's a little under-rated, sir." Sam let out a breath. "Okay, let's try once more."

"Alright, Carter, I'm going to pick her up and you're going to grab her arms and legs, since there is _no_ way I want to get beat up by a little girl. Ready?" After Sam nodded an affirmative, he braced himself, muscles tense, for action. His eyes locked on the girl, he said, "On the count of three… one, two, three."

Jack waited a moment for Sam to grab the girl's wrists before he slid his hands under her arms. Sam tried to get the feet, but they were already flailing, trying to land a kick on either of them; she was putting up a good fight for such a small girl. She managed to kick Sam in the cheek, causing Sam to let go of one hand, then she turned around and bit Jack in his shoulder.

"AHH!" Jack screamed. Of course, he had been bit before by Charlie when he was younger, but nothing like this. He lost his balance and toppled over the girl, bringing Carter, who was still holding onto her hand, down on top of them.

Daniel rushed out of his office just in time to see it all happen. "What the hell is going on here?" He watched as Sam and Jack scrambled to their feet and a young girl backed away from them both.

Sam rubbed her face and felt some blood oozing out of her check, while Jack inspected the bite that had broken through his skin; he hoped that girl had gotten a rabies shot.

The girl rubbed her arm, a single teardrop slid down her cheek as she saw and the large blue and purple bruise already forming.

Daniel didn't know what to say. He was clueless as to what was going on for he had never seen this child before, and he certainly never heard anything about her. "Guys?"

Sam looked up at Daniel, embarrassed that he had found her on top of her CO. "Hey… umm, this is- actually, we're not sure, we were hoping you could help us with that." She jumped over the girl's leg and rubbed her cheek again, inspecting her hand for any trace of blood.

"What?" Daniel asked, confused.

"The Colonel can fill you in, I probably should go inform General Hammond about her. So, if you guys will excuse me." She was ready to leave when Jack caught her hand.

"Carter," He said, tugging on her to turn around. And she did.

"Yes sir?" She asked, although she knew the reason; he wanted to examine her cheek.

Jack narrowed his eyes at the blood running down her face; it made him worried. The gash was half an inch away from her eye, and it looked painful. He gently touched it and saw her wince in pain. "I want you to get that checked out." He ordered.

Sam seemed to regret his decision, but she didn't complain about it. "Yes, sir." She said glumly. "I think you should get your shoulder looked at as well, Colonel, after all, she isn't like us and-"

"Thank you, Carter." Jack said, cutting her off. He turned his attention back to the child, and ignored the pain in his arm. He could feel some blood tinkling down from the top of his shoulder. There would be a nasty bruise, but he would live, though he worried Sam's might be a scar that would muss up her perfect face. (But it wasn't as though she would be any less beautiful with it)

Sam turned on her heels and headed towards General Hammond's office. There was going to be a lot of explaining to do…

"Jack, who is she?" Daniel motioned to the girl.

Jack exhaled. "Her? She's a fighter."

----

Sam hurried down the hall as fast as she could while walking, putting pressure her cheek slightly to stop the blood flow. She didn't think it would be a good idea to see General Hammond like this, so she hurried into the ladies room, and stopped in front of the sink.

The injury surprised her; she didn't think it was all that bad, until she saw it. It still was probably wasn't as bad as it looked, but it didn't look good at all. She quickly picked up a washcloth and gently began to wipe away the blood, causing her to wince a few times. The pain was bad, but she'd been through worse.

As she finished, she stared at the mirror once more. The kid was tough. She a nod of satisfaction she made her way to General Hammond's office.

----

Daniel sat against the wall with a pen in one hand and a notebook in the other. Jack had filled him in on everything, and together they decided after what happened last time when they tried to bring the girl in, they thought it best to keep her outside.

Daniel wrote a word in every language that he knew, including all of the alien ones he had picked up on over the past eight years. The girl didn't seem to understand what they were doing. She barely looked at the paper unless Jack pushed her head in that direction, then she seemed to study it, but not understand it.

Daniel sighed. "Okay, this is clearly not working." He handed her the notebook and pen, which the girl cautiously accepted. "Go ahead, write something, in your language."

The girl eyed him, before turning to the page. She tore it out, and jabbed the pen into the next empty page. The pen cut through several layers of paper, but the girl didn't seem to notice. She then began to draw something, something that neither Jack nor Daniel had a clue what it was.

They sat there for five minutes, waiting for the picture to be done, it seemed like they had been there hours before the girl handed Daniel the notebook back, she kept the pen in her hand, squeezing it tightly.

Daniel stared at the paper. It was a large circle, in the center, with several triangles around a dot in the corner that pierced through the paper. Outside the circle were small circles, with little triangles inside each one; they were all connected with a line going through them.

"What is this?" Daniel asked, he hadn't seen anything like this before. "What does it represent?" he turned to the girl, who only stared back at him. He motioned what he was asking as best he could. "What is this?"

The girl tilted her head in confusion.

Jack chuckled slightly, causing both the girl and Daniel to look at him. He wiped the grin off his face and straightened up. "What? Can't I find this whole thing you two are doing, funny?"

"Jack. This is serious. How are we going to communicate if you laugh at everything I do?" Daniel said, adjusting the glasses on his nose.

Jack shook his head. "I don't know if you could call that communicating. She doesn't seem to understand a thing you're saying, and you need to do it in smaller pieces. Waving your hands up in the air won't help tell her you're talking about the sky."

"Jack!" Daniel snapped.

"Hey! I'm only trying to help you, Daniel." Jack said with a smile.

"I don't want your help if you're going to use it in this way." Daniel snapped. The pressure was getting to him. He didn't like not being able to help someone. He wanted to find her language. He had to.

----

Sam knocked on the General's door with a sigh. She hoped he wouldn't remark on her cheek, but knowing him he would. Still, she hoped he wouldn't.

"Enter," came the voice from behind the door.

Sam hesitated and took a deep breath before pushing the door open. "General."

"Major." General Hammond acknowledged. "What can I do for you?" Under normal circumstances, he would have asked someone why he or she was up so early, but knowing Major Carter, that could be a lengthy answer that he wasn't ready to try and understand.

"Well, sir. I guess I'll start at the beginning. Thor-"

He knew right away this would take a while. "Take a seat, Major." He gestured to the chair in front of her.

Sam sighed silently and nodded. "Yes sir."

----

Daniel was more frustrated then ever now. He couldn't seem to make this kid understand what he was telling her, or, rather, trying to tell her. Jack reminded him that not everyone was as smart as he was. Maybe that was the problem… maybe he needed to try something different, but he couldn't put his finger on what.

Jack sighed, stretching out his arms with a yawn. "Daniel, I think we've been here for an hour already, do you want to call it quits? It looks like she's asleep already." They both turned to the girl, who seemed to be forcing her eyes to stay open, but even as they watched, they were slowly drifting shut. "She's exhausted. As we both should be. Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Daniel shook his head.

Jack glanced at his watch and wrinkled his forehead. "You don't want to." He got to his feet and popped a few bones while doing so. "Ouch." He held his shoulder and winced. "Okay, I think I should put this lovely, mean, young girl to bed, what do you think?"

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. I think she would like something to eat, she looks pretty hungry."

"That can wait until tomorrow, she's to tired to eat, look at her."

The poor girl looked like she was ready to collapses at any minute, her head was leaned against the wall, and was beginning to fall towards one side. Soon her whole body shifted, and she would have crashed onto the fall, if Jack hadn't stopped her.

"See? She's tired. Don't worry though, Daniel, you have tomorrow to try to communicate something to her." Jack slid his hands under the girl's skinny body; he didn't expect her to be so light. He didn't think Charlie was this light, even when he was two. As he walked towards the elevators, he noted he would make sure she ate a lot of food the next few days. She was too skinny, too light, and frankly, it worried him.

Jack somehow managed to get his access card out of his pocket and slide it down for the elevator to open, all without waking up the child in his arms. Feeling very proud of himself, he hit floor fifteen, and waited for the doors to reopen. Before they did, they picked up an airman on the seventeenth floor, who stared at the both of them awkwardly.

"Do you have a problem with kids?" Jack snapped, impatient with the unknown airman.

The airman cleared his throat. "Umm, no sir. I like… kids."

"Then stop staring at us." Jack retorted quietly. The elevator made it to floor fifteen and Jack stepped out. He smiled to himself as the doors closed, he loved being a higher rank then most people working here. He adjusted his grip on the girl and made his way to the VIP rooms (he would consider her a very important person; after all, she had met Thor.)

He nodded to an airman to open the door for him before walking into the room and making his way over to the bed. The airman pulled back the covers for him, and he slid the girl into the bed. "There you go," he whispered. The girl automatically rolled over to her side, facing Jack.

"Goodnight." He felt the need to kiss her on the forehead, but fought against it. After all, imagine the remark _this_ airman would give him if he did! He followed the airman out of the room and ordered him to guard the door, and to notify him immediately if she woke up…

----

General Hammond sat forward in his chair and folded his hands with a deep sigh. "So where is this child now?"

"I'm not sure, sir. I think she may be outside Daniel's office where I last saw her. She didn't seem to want to move anywhere else. Actually, she picked up quite a fight with us."

General Hammond nodded slowly for a moment. "What do you plan on doing with her?"

Sam straightened. "Well, sir. Colonel O'Neill and I think we should try to communicate with her. See where she's from, and why she left it. Maybe somehow get her home. I'm sure her parents are worried about her."

"Yes. I'm sure they are." General Hammond paused, staring directly at her injury. "Major, did you get that from the child?"

Sam sighed silently and touched her cheek; she could feel a small pool of blood on it. Damn! "Yes sir. I don't think she meant to hurt me, she just didn't trust us…" For some reason, she felt the need to stick up for the kid, though she didn't know why.

The General nodded. "Very well, you're dismissed. I want to be notified if anything changes."

"Yes, sir." Sam said, pushing herself up from the chair.

"And Major? I want you to get that looked at, now."

Sam nodded. "Yes sir."

----

Thank for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry about the wait!! I had this written about a week ago, but my beta actually has a life besides editing my story (gasp!) Anyways, I hope you all enjoy it!

Thank you Aria-wolfstar for taking the time to beta this!

Ch 4: ...

Sam made her way to the infirmary, regretting every step she took. She loved Janet to pieces, but she hated the infirmary. Everyone did. But most of them weren't in there as much as she and the rest of SG-1 was; well, except for maybe Siler.

She knocked quietly on the door, not wanting to disturb anyone from his or her likely precious sleep. She pushed it open and found Janet walking over to her. "Hey," Sam whispered. "I uh-"

"How's it going with the kid?" Janet asked, turning on the closest light before looking at Sam. "Is she- oh my god. Did she do that to you?" She switched from friend to doctor in a split second. "Sam, sit."

Sam walked over to an empty bed and sat down. "It's nothing, Janet, just an accident. I'm fine," she protested, even though she knew it would get her nowhere.

"Yeah, I've heard that one before." Janet muttered, pulling out the bandages.

Sam looked down. "Did Colonel O'Neill come in?"

Janet stopped what she was doing and turned to her. "What? Why? Did something happen to him as well?"

Sam turned away guiltily. "He… he was… when we were trying to bring the girl into Daniel's office… she… bit him."

"She bit him?" Janet roared. "I want to see him as soon as I am done with you. She's an alien girl and not all her tests have come back yet. For all we know, she could have some disease that we haven't picked up on, or _cant _pick up on!" With a huff of dissatisfaction Janet began to wipe up the blood around the wound. "You're lucky, this almost needs stitches. But I think we'll stick with a butterfly this time, sound okay to you?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

Janet quickly finished up with her, strapping a small butterfly bandage to her cheek. "Sam, tell Colonel O'Neill I want to see him, right away."

Sam hung her head as she walked out the door, and mumbled a slight acknowledgment. He was not going to be happy…, she thought with a cringe.

----

Jack sat in Carter's lab, twiddling around with something he shouldn't be. He didn't understand why Carter liked all this stuff; he found it rather boring himself. "Caaarter… where aaare you?" he said in a singsong type of voice, his patience slowly slipping out of his grasp.

"Sir?"

Jack jumped off his chair, causing the object to fly out of his hand and crash onto the floor. "Carter! I was just… waiting for you." He followed his focus to the shattered device. "Oh. Sorry about that. Hope it wasn't too important." It might have sounded cold, but what else could he say?

Sam cast him a wry glance, and, disgruntled, she walked over to the mess and picked up the broken pieces of the crystal Daniel had brought back for her on his last dig. "Sir, what are you doing here?" she asked, throwing the useless pieces into the garbage with a regretful sigh.

"I don't know. What did Hammond say?"

"About?"

"The girl? Was he mad at me for bringing her here?"

"No, sir. He seems to think you made the right decision." Sam turned to him. "Sir, not to sound rude, but would you mind not messing with my stuff?"

"What do you mean? I never mess with your stuff. Okay, so there might have been a time or two…but I've never broke anything."

"What about-"

"So you let the doc check out your cheek," he said, interrupting her thought process hurriedly. "Good, I was wondering if I was going to have to drag you down there myself."

"No sir." Sam sat down. "But Janet does want to see you, right away."

"What? You told her? Why? I was going to see her… later." Jack shoved his hands into his pockets, cringing at the thought of another prick of a needle.

"Sorry, sir."

Jack nodded slowly. "I suppose if I just simply forget to go, she'll call the guards in after me…"

"That's what she did last time."

He heaved a sigh. "I guess I'll see you later then, after I've been poked to death," he said. "Oh, and by the way, Daniel couldn't help. She's asleep in the VIP room."

"Thank you, sir."

Jack nodded and walked out of the room…

----

Janet finished dressing Jack's wound, satisfied with her results, she didn't find anything out of the ordinary, besides the teeth marks in his shoulder of course. By the time she let him go, the sun was already up. Of course being so many levels under the ground, they couldn't see it.

Jack groaned as he rolled over to his other side, trying to get at least an hour of sleep. But it wasn't coming easy tonight - morning, not that it ever did… "Damn it." He threw his pillow across the room in frustration.

He wasn't ready to get up, but he didn't have much of a choice; there was no way he could fall asleep now. He was wide-awake; he had missed his chance. He sat up and rubbed his chin, thinking, he could use a shave.

Grabbing his shirt he quickly tossed it on and headed towards the men's room…

----

Sam didn't sleep either. She stayed up all night trying to finish her reports she had gotten behind on. Only two more to go and she would be done. She pushed her chair back sighed. She needed coffee and a shower to keep her up. She glanced at the clock; the commissary would be putting on a new pot right now.

She made her way to the commissary, ignoring all the stares she received due to the gash covered by the butterfly band-aid on her face. "Hey, June, do you have any of your special coffee?" she asked, walking up to a lady who had been working there the day the Stargate program opened.

June flashed a smile. "You know I do." She said. "It's on in the kitchen, I'll be right back."

Sam smiled and nodded. June was an elderly lady, she tended to be overly friendly sometimes, and she was nosey about SG-1's personal lives, but over all, she was a very nice lady.

"Here you go." June said, returning with a steaming mug in her hands. "I take it you and Colonel O'Neill didn't get much sleep last night…" she smiled, showing her crooked old teeth.

"What?" Sam asked, turning around to find Colonel O'Neill at the table behind her. How did she miss him? She turned back to June. "No, we didn't."

June's smile grew larger. "It's about time you two kicked those regs into the river."

Sam's eyes widened immediately, and she choked back a surprised curse. She knew exactly what the elderly woman was talking about. June tended to mention rumors to people about Colonel O'Neill and herself, and she certainly didn't want this one going around the rumor mill.

"No. No, no, no. Nothing like that at all." Sam assured. "You see, we- Colonel O'Neill found this child and I-"

"Mmm-hmm. You always have an excuse, don't you?" June straighten her cap. "Well, lucky for you that you work here, where anything can happen. You'll never run out of them."

Sam glared at her, took her coffee, and prepared to storm off when she heard her CO's voice calling after her.

"Hey! Carter?"

She sighed to herself, this was not the day she wanted to be seen with him, people will think that rumor was true, if they didn't already… "Yes sir." She turned around and flashed a small smile at him.

"Join me?" He held up a doughnut, as if it would be a deciding factor to lure her to his table.

Sam nodded. "Yes, sir." She said, and she walked over to him and took the seat across from him.

Jack looked around, trying to find the person for her discomfort. "You do know that was not an order, right?"

Sam nodded. "Yes sir." She took a sip of her coffee, paused, and then stuck out her tongue and pulled out a piece of hair. For a moment, she stared at it closely. "Junes." She confirmed, pushing away the coffee.

Jack grimaced at his and did the same. "Well, she is getting a little old I guess. What do you think, she has to be what, sixty?"

Sam shrugged. "Could be older."

Jack chuckled. "Could be." He bit into his doughnut and quickly spat it back out. "They really need to learn how to cook." He muttered, pushing the plate away as well. "What story did she come up with today?"

Sam looked up. She knew that June bugged Jack as well, about the accusations between them, but they both never talked about it before, and frankly, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to. "Umm… nothing, really."

"Really? That's why you hesitated before accepting my invitation for breakfast?" Jack asked, with a smug look.

"No, I hesitated because I wasn't sure I was ready to eat partially eaten doughnuts." She grinned. "Sorry sir, but it doesn't sound to appetizing to me."

Jack chuckled. "Fine. Have it your way. When do you think Daniel's going to be here?"

"Am I wrong or did I hear someone mention my name?"

Jack and Sam turned to find Daniel sliding into a seat next to them, with a tray of pancakes and the 'special' coffee June only made for SG-1.

"Good morning. Manage to get any sleep last night?" Sam asked.

"Nope." He reached for his fork and began on his pancakes. "I was to busy searching the Internet for ways to communicate with a deaf children. I just don't know if any of them will work, because she's not from here…"

"Yeah. We kinda already got that part." Jack said.

Daniel rolled his eyes and reached for his coffee. Jack and Sam didn't bother to tell him about the hair Sam had found in hers, but knowing Daniel, he probably would drink it anyways, just to be polite.

"So, what do we have planned for today?" Jack asked, clapping his hands together.

"The mission to 397 is canceled until we figure out what we're going to do with the girl." Daniel said, looking up at the pairs of eyes. In response to the curiosity that radiated from them, he continued. "I just finished talking with General Hammond."

Sam grimaced and looked away. "I don't see any reason for us all to stay here. I mean, you two should definitely stay, but Teal'c and I could go tag along with SG-9 to that abandoned planet."

"Why should I stay?" Jack inquired, staring suspiciously at his 2IC. "You don't want me to 'tag' along with any of you?"

"No! I mean, I wouldn't mind. However, the girl only seems to trust you, sir. And I'm not so good around kids." She remembered the few days she had baby-sat for her brother. Things hadn't gone so well…

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked. "You're excellent with kids. What about Cassie? Are you saying you weren't good around Cassie? Because if my ancient memory serves me right. I think she liked you. Wait, actually, I think you were one of the few people she did like." Jack turned to Daniel. "Right?"

Daniel was preoccupied with pulling a long gray hair out of his mouth, causing him to gag slightly.

"Yuck." Jack muttered.

"Sir. I don't have to go anywhere, if you think you'll need me. I just thought I might be more use to SG-9… but, if you need me…"

"Well, it's not so much the 'needing' part. It's more I'd like to have you here, and not billions of light-years away. I mean what if something happens and we need you? What if she turns out to be an extremely intelligent robot?" Jack asked. "Who knows? Siler might be here this minute and tell us that-"

"Colonel O'Neill."

Jack froze, he was afraid to turn around, he knew by the voice who it was, Siler. "Yes?" he slowly turned to face the man.

"It's the child sir. She-"

"Let me guess. She's a extremely intelligent robot," Sam said, a grin spreading across her face.

Siler turned curiously to her, and blinked, not understanding her last comment. "No, ma'am. I was going to say, the girl is going crazy. She woke up and the airman outside the door went in to see if she needed anything. And she went nuts, she shoved him against the wall and is hiding under the bed as we speak."

Jack, Sam and Daniel were on their feet before he could go on. They hurried to the VIP room, only to find it swarmed in air force officers. Three were helping the guard up and the other three seemed to be trying to coax the girl out.

"What are you doing?" Jack snapped, taking control of the situation at once. "You three, get that man to the infirmary." Although he was sure the man was unharmed, he needed any excuse to get rid of some of the crowd. "And you three, get out of here, you're only making things worse."

The airmen nodded, and quickly left the room without a word.

Sam glanced carefully at Jack, before lowering herself to her knees. She pulled up the bedspread and immediately spotted the girl. She was curled up as tight as her small body would allow her, and she seemed to be crying, but Sam couldn't be sure.

"Hey," She said in a soft voice. "I know you can't hear me, but…" she reached forward and barely touched the girl's arm.

The girl pushed herself backwards as much as she could in what small space was allotted to her. She barely glanced up at the person responsible. Resignation washed over her face, she seemed relieved.

Sam gave her a comforting smile. "Hey, you." She gave a slight wave. "What are you doing under here?" she glanced around, the SGC was a well-cleaned base, but apparently no one bothered to dust under the bed recently. "Dusty under here, isn't it?"

Jack couldn't help but find himself taken aback at the way Sam was dealing with the small girl. Maybe she didn't think that she was a child person, but he didn't know if there was someone else who could handle this kid like her.

Daniel also seemed surprised, and although he wanted to butt in, he restrained himself, and let Sam handle the situation in her own way. There was no point in dragging the kid out, as that would only upset her and take hours to gain her trust back. Which…would be hard…seeing how they didn't have her trust anyway.

The girl blinked slowly at Sam. Her grip around her knees loosened.

Sam smiled. "Do you mind if I join you, huh?" She laid on her back and slid under the bed, next to the child, well aware that the girl slid further away. "That's better." She let out a long breath. "I can see why you like it under here. It's… nice."

The girl stared at her, puzzled.

"I'm not going to hurt you. You know that right? I only want to help you. And I don't know how well I can do that from under a bed. So, as much fun as this is, do you think we could take this on the bed?" She didn't know why she talked to the girl. If she was deaf, it wouldn't be helping at all.

"Carter."

Sam pushed her head out under the bed. "Sir?"

"Is it working?" He asked, impatient already from earlier that night.

"I'm not really sure, sir. Since she doesn't understand me I highly doubt it. But, this way she may come out on her own will. And we won't have to fight with her."

Jack nodded. "Okay. Yeah. I like that idea. No fights, good."

Sam smiled. "Yes, sir." She pushed herself back under the bed. "Sorry, had to talk to my CO… commanding officer."

The girl seemed to lose interest in Sam; she stared at something above her, squinting her eyes as she did.

"What's wrong?" Sam scooted closer. "Oh. Do you like spiders?" she asked as she stared at the daddy-long-leg who had made a home under the bed.

The girl's eyes seemed to be glued to the spider. She didn't blink, didn't flinch in the slightest.

"Hey? Are you okay?" Sam hadn't seen anyone lay so still before, well, she had, but not someone so young…

The girl's eyes widened as the spider lowered itself down, coming closer and closer to her face. The girl let out a petrified scream and scrambled out of the bed in record time. She backed into the corner of the wall and threw her arms around herself, to protect her.

Jack was already making his way over to her as Sam pulled herself out from under the bed.

"Hey," he said as he kneeled before the girl. "Hey, are you okay?"

The girl was to shaken up to even look at him. She buried her face into her hands and cried quietly.

Sam moved over to the crying girl's side, not getting too close, scare she didn't want to scare the kid anymore then she was now. This girl was on another planet, billions of light-years away from home. She was scared. She didn't know what was going on around her. She was trying to protect herself. And Sam wasn't ready to make that worse.

Jack looked up at Sam. "Did the spider scare her?"

Sam nodded. "Yes."

Jack sighed. "Okay then." He sat on the opposite side of the child, not caring if he got to close. He touched the girl's shoulder, and this time, she didn't back away, or even look up to glare at him, she just cried harder.

"Hey, it's okay." Sam said. She hesitated before putting her arm around the girl. "Don't cry. It's okay, it's not going to get you." The girl buried her head into Sam's shoulder. "It's gone now."

Daniel watched his two friends try to calm the child down. And they seemed to be doing a pretty good job. He moved over to the bed and bent down, spotting the spider now climbing up a wall; he squished it with his shoe.

The girl looked up at the noise, seeing the dead squished spider seemed to comfort her. Her crying began to cease, and she pulled away from Sam and Jack before quickly wiping her tears away.

Sam didn't mind this time that she pulled away again. She was just glad the crying had stopped. She didn't like seeing children cry, not even if for some dumb reason.

"Are you hungry?" Jack asked. He touched her shoulder to get her attention. "Hungry? Food?" He mimicked a person eating something. "Want some food?"

The girl blinked confused at first, before slowly nodding her head.

"Okay then. I'll go get something." Jack stood up on his feet. "What do you think she'll like?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know, sir. Just bring a tray with everything, and we'll find out."

Jack nodded. "Okay. I'll be back in a minute..."

----


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you all so much for reviewing!

----

Ch 5: A child called 'it'…

Jack returned ten minutes later with several airmen, all of them holding rather large trays, each one heaped with food.

Sam looked up with interest as her CO stepped into the room. "Wow. I think you brought the whole commissary with you, Colonel," she commented as Jack sat the several trays down on the desks next to the bed.

"Well, if I remember correctly, you did say to bring everything," Jack reminded her. "And I did." A large grin swept across his face. "Well, I didn't get all the desserts; just in case she decided she only liked them. I didn't think we'd want to deal with her after she had _that much _of a sugar load. But, then again, it might help her gain some weight. I mean, look at her, she can't weigh more then sixty or something…"

Sam nodded in agreement. Her brother's kids were skinny, but when you compared them to this child, they didn't seem so small anymore… "Yeah, well, next time, I think you can stick to one tray. I highly doubt she'll be eating much."

"Well, it never hurts to try." Jack said. "Damn. I forgot something for her to drink."

"I'll get her some milk." Daniel volunteered before disappearing out of the room.

Jack looked over at the girl. "Anything happen while I was gone?" He asked, not waiting for an answer as he pulled a few plates off a tray and brought them over to the girl. "So, are you in the mood for good pizza? Or maybe some yummy oatmeal?"

"Pizza?" Sam raised her eyebrows. "Sir, it's not even zero nine hundred yet."

"I know, Carter, but pizza's better than nothing." He set the plates on the ground in an array in front of the girl. "So, what will it be?"

Sam was more interested in who would have made pizza this early, but she decided not to ask.

The girl stared down at the plates, as she had almost everything else. A minute later she looked up at the two adults and blinked.

"Okay, I'll take that as a no. You don't want pizza. That's fine, just a minute, we've got a lot of food to go through…"

----

And a lot of food they did go through. Half an hour later the child settled on a hotdog, a plain simple hotdog. No bun, no ketchup or mustard, just the dog.

Sam found it strange that it was the very food Cassie had settled on eating when she first came to this world. Maybe it was because it looked like food they had eaten before…

Jack leaned against the wall with a loud sigh. "I never want to see another tray of food in my life again."

Sam smiled. "Sir," she said, pushing the plate of spaghetti and meatballs away. "It was only seven trays."

Jack looked at her in disbelief. "Fine, then. I never want to see another _plate _of food in my life again. Does that sound better?"

Sam nodded, knowing that be the end of the day he would change his mind, as hunger got the better of him. "Yes, sir."

"Anyways," Jack slapped his hands on his knees. "That hotdog isn't going to be enough. She needs to eat more."

"I agree sir, but we can't force food down her. I don't think that's the way to gain her trust." Sam smiled down at the girl, who took every bite of the dog carefully.

"Yeah, I know." He sounded tired; he normally didn't show it in his voice. "So, what are we going to call her, hmm?" He looked at the child, looking for a perfect name. "Hey, what's your name? We can't keep calling you 'the girl', or 'it' anymore. You need a real name. So, spill it, Bob? Joe? … Joel?"

Sam smiled at her CO's sense of humor. "Sir, I really don't think she will have a boys name."

Jack turned to the blond. "No?"

"No… most likely not even a human name for that matter. It will probably be something in a language we know little about."

"You're beginning to sound a lot like Daniel." He muttered under his breath. "Well, I think I'll keep guessing. Maybe she'll recognize one that…" He stopped when he thought about what he was saying. "I guess that's pretty dumb, isn't it? She can't even hear me."

Sam had to admit, it wasn't all that bright. "Uh-… no, well, she might…" She stopped and let out a long breath. "Perhaps she could lip-read?"

"Well, one thing's for sure. We can't keep calling her anything, that's just rude. So, got any suggestions?" He eased himself up into a more comfortable sitting position.

"Sir," Sam started. "She does have a name, I don't think we should be calling her anything else."

Jack shrugged. "Well, it's better then 'kid'."

Sam wasn't so sure. If she were in a similar position, she knew she wouldn't be very happy at being re-named. This kid had to be at least eight. How could they just rename her? A name was personal; it was who you were. But, however, the Colonel was right, they couldn't keep calling her nothing or 'kid'.

"Daniel will probably name her anyway, before we get a chance." Jack said quietly.

The child glanced up from her half-eaten hotdog, looking from Sam to Jack curiously, as if wondering what was going on around her.

"Yeah, knowing Daniel, he probably will." Sam said. "Alright, what's next sir? What are we supposed to do with her? Just baby-sit?"

Jack shrugged. "I have no idea. I suppose. But, what happens if we have to watch her forever? And we'll grow old and gray just watching every move she makes?"

Sam managed to resist the urge to roll her eyes. "Sir, we most likely won't be ordered to watch her longer then a week. And if we are, I am sure we will still be allowed to go on several missions." She couldn't imagine General Hammond ordering the 'number one' team, as most called them, to stay behind only to baby-sit and alien girl.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I know. But it sounded good."

Sam shook her head mentally. "First thing's first, we need… I need to give her a bath. I don't think she's had one in quite a while, if ever." She added the last part barely above a whisper. "And we need to get her some new clothes, those are just…" She didn't want to say ugly, although it was the truth, she just didn't feel comfortable saying in front of the wearer. "Old." She finished.

The two air force officers looked down at the child, who stared right back at them, again, wondering what was going on.

"Okay, while you give her a bath, I'll go find her something decent for her to wear." Jack said, pushing himself onto his feet.

"Sir, I'm sure we have uniforms small enough to fit her. They may need to be taken in a little but-"

"Carter, please." Jack stopped her. "Now, Carter, you better have Janet help you, and maybe a few other people, just in case. I can tell you right now she isn't going to like being forced into a shower."

Sam nodded in agreement. "Yes sir. I think Janet and I can handle it." She quickly thought back to the fight outside Daniel's office. "Well, maybe I'll have couple others… just in case."

Jack nodded. "Good." He hesitated. "Who's money will I be using to pay for the kid's stuff?" he helped Carter onto her feet.

"I'm sure the SGC will pay for a few supplies…" she paused as his words sunk in. "Stuff, sir?"

"Yeah, sure, stuff. The kid's going to need something to keep her occupied. And at least a couple pairs of clothing if she's going to be staying with us. Maybe a-"

"Sir," Sam interrupted. "She will not be needing a playstation." She felt the need to point that out before he did something stupid.

Jack looked hurt. "I wasn't thinking about giving her one… okay, I was, but that's not the point. She was going to borrow mine. I was just going to buy her a few games that didn't involve certain language… that she wouldn't be able to hear in the first place." He had to remind himself over and over that she wasn't a hearing child.

Sam smiled slightly. The Colonel always did have a soft spot for children, and they adored him, most of the time anyway. "That's really thoughtful of you, sir."

"Yeah, well…" He shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged bashfully, not meeting Carter's eyes. "Okay, I guess I'll get a head start. See you in an hour." He waked over to the door and waved goodbye to the girl before walking out.

--------

Twenty minutes later, with the help of Janet and Lt.'s Rice and Winthrop, Sam managed to bring the girl into the locker room and remove the filthy dress without too much of a fight. She knew that was only the easy part. She wasn't going to admit it, but she was actually a little scared about trying to put the girl into the shower and keep her there. After all, she didn't want to force her to do anything.

"Sam, are you ready?"

Janet's voice pulled her away from her thoughts. She turned and gave a nod. Janet was so much more ready for this than she herself was, though that was probably because she hadn't gotten bitten, or cut open by the girl's toenails. "Yeah… how are we going to do this?"

Janet hesitated. "I have no idea."

"Okay, how about, I grab her, Janet you get her legs, and Lt. Rice, you grab her arms, and Lt. Winthrop, you take whatever she gets free."

Everyone nodded and got into a position, ready to pounce the poor girl as soon as the word was given.

But the girl wasn't as clueless as they gave her credit for. She'd been through this once, and actually did succeed, but there hadn't been this many people. She looked up at Sam, who avoided her eyes. Just as Sam gave the order, the child jumped from her position on the bench, and hurried to the closest thing that would protect her, a small room with a curtain.

Sam looked taken back as the girl jumped into the shower and pulled the curtain close. "That was easy." She muttered. "Okay, now we get to the hard part, holding her down so we can clean her. Everyone ready? Let's do this."

----

Like it? I hope so!

And thank you Aria-wolfstar for beta'ing my chapter!

PLEASE review!


	6. Chapter 6

Hey!

Thank you all for the reviews, as always, it's nice to hear from you!

I'm sorry for the slow update! I'll try and get the next chapter to my beta pronto!

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

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Ch 6: A Deaf Child...

Jack arrived back at the SGC with a little more 'stuff' then he intended on buying. He pulled into his parking place and hopped out of the truck. He waved to an airman to come over to assist him, before reaching into the bed of his truck and pulling out the first two bags.

"Yes sir?" The airman asked, stopping a few feet away from Jack.

"Hey, wanna give me a hand? Got a lot of stuff in here." Jack said, throwing a bag over his shoulder.

The man peeked over Jack's shoulders, raising a questioning eyebrow, before nodding. "Yes sir."

Jack nodded back. "Thanks, just deliver them to Major Carter's Lab." He added before walking away.

----

"O'Neill?"

Jack turned to the familiar voice. "Teal'c." he acknowledged, dropping a bag on top of Carter's already messy desk. "Hey, want to help me? I've got a ton a stuff to bring in here, and I've got to get these clothes to Carter." He looked at his watch. "Well, seven minutes ago…"

"I heard of the young child staying on the base." Teal'c said.

Jack stopped. "And?"

"And nothing." Teal'c said, cocking his head slightly to the side and blinking once. "I will return with more bags." He turned and left the room.

Jack shrugged to himself before doing the same; he made his way to the locker rooms, ignoring the eyes of everyone who looked at him. June must have been whispering out rumors, and from the looks of it, it had spread like wildfire. He reached the locker room out of breath; he knocked on the door, not wanting to enter, just in case… well, it was the woman's locker room, after all.

Sam was the one who answered, she was soaked, and her hair was still dripping which told him the women must have just finished bathing the girl. Over her shoulder he saw the girl wrapped in a towel, her face twisted into a mean look. She looked up at him, as if he would rescue her.

"Have fun?" Jack asked, handing two bags that spilled out with clothes.

"Yes sir." Sam replied, taking the bags. After she got a better look at the bags she was offered, she cast him a strange look, holding back a chuckle. "Sir. I think you bought the whole clothing store."

"You don't even know the half of it." Jack muttered quietly enough so she couldn't hear.

"What?" Sam asked, looking up from the bags.

"Nothing. Umm, I didn't know what size she was, so I got all kinds. Uhh- her shoes and socks are in your lab, along with a few other things, like toothbrushes and hairbrushes… a few toys…"

Sam raised her eyebrows, she was now wondering if it had been a mistake to send Colonel O'Neill shopping for the young girl. "Thank you, sir. We'll be out in a minute."

Jack nodded. "I'll be in your lab…"

"Yes, sir."

He smiled to the girl and gave her a slight wave, before hurrying out of sight…

----

Dressing the girl wasn't as bad as Sam thought it would be, she seemed rather anxious to get back into some clothes. She wore a plain simple pair of blue jeans, and a white t-shirt. Sam was actually surprised in Jack's taste of clothes; she had imagined him returning with something like a Simpson's shirt.

The girl wouldn't let Sam touch her hair, but after she demonstrated it a few times, the girl tried brushing it on her own. Yet, not liking the feeling of the brush in her untamed curls, she didn't get very far, but at least it looked better then it used to.

Sam held onto the girl's hand all the way to her lab, she pushed the door open and stood frozen at the sight. Her lab was completely filled with bags and boxes; she hadn't seen her lab this messy in years. Bags were squished into small spaces, and boxes sat under her desk. She spotted a gameboy through one bag, and next to it, several games. How did the Colonel have time to buy all this? He wasn't gone longer then an hour. Where did he get the money?

"Carter?" Jack poked his head out from under the desk, a small innocent smile spread across his face.

Sam narrowed her eyes at him. Why couldn't he bring this stuff into HIS office? "Sir," she started, trying to keep her voice relatively calm. "This is NOT a few things!"

Jack stopped what he was doing and turned to her. "Well, actually, I was going to buy a few more things but I thought they may be a little advanced for her. I can get them later though, once she gets used to the rest of-"

"Sir, she needed a few pieces of clothing and that is all." Sam sighed. "What are you doing under my desk, Colonel?"

Jack held up a bead it proudly. "The kit opened. Beads are everywhere. I was just picking them up." He pushed himself to his feet. "Carter, a kid needs stuff…"

"Sir," Sam was getting irritated. "I am aware that this child should have a few things to keep her entertained, but… do you really think she needs a _gameboy_? A _bead kit_?" Although, she had to admit, rather grudgingly, the bead kit was a good idea.

"Yeah, I heard bead kits and gameboys are good for deaf kids, I thought she could use one." He didn't understand why she was so upset. "Don't worry, I paid for it."

Sam glanced at another bag. "A comforter? Sir, she has a comforter."

Jack nodded glumly. "Yeah, and it's old and boring. A kid needs something new, something colorful, like this one."

"We have the comforter Cassie used when she stayed her, sir. And all her toys and a few other things, she… I think-"

Jack held up a hand to stop her. "Carter, I wanted to do this. It was my gift to her, don't worry, none of this came out of your paycheck." He smiled as he turned his attention slightly to the right. "And look at her, she loves it."

Sam hadn't realized the girl's hand had left hers; she turned and saw the girl pulling a stuffed elephant out of a bag. The smile that spread across that kid's face was enough to tell Sam Jack knew what he was doing. The girl squeezed her new friend tightly in her arms. A small frown found its way onto Sam's face as she berated herself for getting that easily upset.

Jack smiled at the sight. "I'm glad I got that one. I was thinking about getting the pink lion, but I thought might as well stick with the old boring gray elephant."

Sam nodded. "I think that was the right choice."

"Good job with the bath, by the way, she looks so much cleaner. She no longer looks like an alien dirty child, does she?" Jack stepped over bags, squishing some of their contents to move over towards Sam.

Sam smiled. "No sir, she doesn't."

"Hmm…" Jack scratched his head. "You know what? She looks even littler with those clothes on."

"Well, they are a little big. I managed to find a belt that fit her well enough, or else the pants would have fallen off by now. The shirt looks like it's supposed to be slightly big, so…" Sam trailed off.

"It's not that, she just looks… younger." Jack pushed a bag of underclothing off Sam's desk and made a spot for both Sam and himself.

"Beats me." Sam muttered as she heaved herself onto the desk next to Jack. She looked around the room once more, still amazed at how much stuff he bought. "Did anyone say anything?"

Jack turned to her, not expecting that question. "Did who say what?"

Sam blushed slightly. "I meant, did anyone say anything about you buying this much stuff?" She couldn't explain why she was so curious about this, but for some reason, she needed to ask.

Jack shrugged. "Umm, the man who helped me find shoes found it odd that I bought the same shoes in several different sizes. And when I was checking out, the cashier looked at me suspiciously, as if I was going to kidnap several children to fill the clothes. And I got several comments and glances from the airmen helping me bring all of this stuff in here… so, yeah, I guess they did."

Sam nodded slowly, her eyes wide. "Wow."

"Yeah. It was kind of weird shopping in the girl's section. I mean, I've done it before with Cassie, but she was always with me, I had an excuse then." Jack turned his attention back to the child. "Somewhere out there, there are people wondering where she is."

"Well," Sam started. "She may be an orphan, sir. She may not have a family, which could be the reason she left her planet."

"But Thor said there were no readings of any other life forms on that planet." Jack said, confused.

"Yes sir, but she may not have come from there. If she was an orphan, she could be from anywhere. Trying to find somewhere to live…"

Jack raised an eyebrow. He didn't even think of the possibility of this child being an orphan. "Why do you think she doesn't have a family?"

Sam shrugged at first. "Well, because, she doesn't seem to… know people. To adapt to new people, or… even…" she trailed off again, lost of words. "I don't know. I just have a feeling, that's all."

"Well, you're so called 'feelings' are normally pretty good." Jack said. "If it weren't for them, I don't think any of us would-"

He was cut off by a loud crash, and glass shattering. They both turned to the girl, finding her back to them, and a small glass figurine shattered in pieces.

Sam and Jack hurried onto their feet and over to the child.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sam asked as she kneeled next to her. "It's okay, I'm sure you didn't mean to break it." She looked at Jack who was picking up the broken pieces. "Are…" She stopped at the sight of blood on the girl's hands.

The girl looked up at her, her eyes filled with tears. She dropped the piece of glass from her hand.

"Sir, she's bleeding." Sam said, looking around for something to stop the blood. "I think she might have picked up a piece and cut herself." Sam said, pushing herself up she hurried over to her desk, pulling open several drawers before pulling out a handful of napkins.

Jack dropped the glass into the trashcan and moved closer to examine the two bloody hands.

Sam handed him some napkins and used the rest of them for the other cut hand. She applied pressure to the girl's palm, causing the girl to wince and jump back. "Hey, it's okay. I'm just stopping the blood." Sam slowly removed the napkin, and a few pieces of the cloth stuck to the cut. "It's not that bad, but she should get it looked at it."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, same with this one." He didn't remove the pressure. "Help me get her up."

The girl was close to tears, she did her best to hold them back, but they slowly leaked out.

Sam and Jack both grabbed one shoulder and pulled her up. "It's a good thing you have napkins in your drawer." He said, as they basically pulled the girl out of the room.

"Force of habit. With Daniel's visits and with all the testing I do, there's bound to be a spilled cup of coffee, or something." She slid her card through the card reader and the elevator doors opened.

"Ahh, I didn't think about that." Jack said. "Good idea." He would do it too, except he was hardly in his office, and if he was, he was to busy trying to get out of there to spill anything.

Sam smiled slightly. The doors opened and the three of them hurried out. "Okay, here we go again, back to the doctor…"

The girl's eyes widened, as if she remembered this hall. She tried pulling away from them, but they had already been expecting some resistance, they pulled her harder. The girl grunted as she tried to kick Sam, but failed.

"Hey, no hitting the genius. You already got a whack at us." Jack said, prepared to throw this kid over his shoulders and carry her there.

Sam let go of the hand and pushed the doors open. "Janet! We're back!"

Jack didn't want to pull the girl any harder, he was afraid he was going to dislocate her arm. So he let go of her other hand and picked her up, prepared for her protests.

And protest she did. At once she began to hit him on his back as hard as she could, but unfortunately she was causing herself more pain there she was him.

Jack eventually threw the girl over his shoulder and onto the bed, making sure she didn't hurt herself. "Doc?"

Janet immerged from the opposite side of the room. "Sorry sir, Siler burned himself, again, but don't worry, the nurses can take care of him." She turned to the child before her, slightly scared; she'd heard what she had done to the Colonel and Sam. "Oh, back so soon?"

Jack held her shoulders down, using the same technique as he had before.

Sam assisted Jack, as the girl struggled to get away. "She cut herself on broken glass. It's not serious, but I think you should have a look." Sam didn't want to admit it, but she was worried, sure she had many scrapes, cuts and bruises growing up, but this was different, she was responsible for this child right now, if she allowed her to cut herself, what else would happen? She wasn't so sure she was the best person for this baby-sitting job.

Janet nodded and removed the napkins. "Well, you cut yourself pretty good there, didn't you?"

The young girl's expression was both scared and mad.

Janet quickly cleaned up the cuts and bandaged them, all without the girl making too much of a fuss.

"There, you see, that wasn't so bad was it?" Janet smiled. "And hopefully I won't see you hear again for some time." She turned to Sam. "I thought you should know, I just got the results of her tests back, and they all came back clean. She's perfectly healthy. She doesn't appear to have as much as a cold, so, nothing to worry about."

Sam nodded. "Thank you, Janet." She helped the girl get down from the bed. "Say hi to Cassie for me, will you?"

Janet smiled and nodded as she reached into her jacket pocket for a lollipop and held it in front of the child who eyed it. "Always."

----

So! What did you think?


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks everyone for the reviews! And again, thank you Aria-wolfstar for editing this for me!

Sorry for taking so long to post this!

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Ch 7: Meeting Teal'c...

Sam and Jack found themselves in Sam's lab half an hour later. Empting bags upon bags, and bringing the items into the girl's room. Posters of animals filled the boring gray walls, and colorful bedspread and rugs made the room look a little more human.

Sam was hooking up the lava lamp Jack insisted the girl needed. She had already started a growing pile of unnecessary items that needed to be returned.

Jack stocked the bookcase with children's picture books. "Carter," he said as he placed the last book in its new home. "What was your favorite book as a kid?" he moved over to the bag with coloring books and crayons, and found a place for them in the small desk.

Sam looked over at him, surprised by his question. "I… I don't remember." She said, beginning a pile of clothes that were too large or too small for the small girl.

Jack glanced at her, unconvinced that she had forgotten her favorite book.

"What?" She asked, not liking the look on his face. "That was a long time ago, and there were so many books, I'm not sure I actually had a favorite."

Jack shrugged. That was true, if she read anywhere near the amount of books she read now, she probably had a hundred favorites. "Fine, what was your least favorite book?"

That was an odd question. "Umm… believe it or not, Cat and the Hat. I used to hate that book so much, and my mom never understood why."

Jack looked confused; that had been one of _his _favorites as a child, and he read it all the time to Charlie when the young boy was smaller. "_I_ don't understand it. What's so wrong with it?"

"Well, it was too stupid. Unrealistic. I liked books that at least seemed real. Not to mention there was no point in reading it." She threw all the returnable clothes into several empty bags.

Jack raised his eyebrows but remained silent. He glanced over at the girl, who sat in the beanbag chair he bought, coloring with her markers in a Barbie coloring book. "I think we should go for lunch." He said. "It's already 1300."

Sam glanced at her watch to double check. "Wow. You two can go, I'm not hungry. I'm going to finish-"

"Carter." Jack interrupted. "I really, really don't want to have to order you to eat, but I will. You didn't eat any breakfast."

"Thank you for your concern, Colonel. But I'm fine. You two go ahead." She gave him a reassuring smile.

"I think you better tag along, Carter. I may need you. What if she picks up another fight with an airman? How will the man be able to defend himself without you?" Jack wasn't sure he should press her anymore then he was doing, but the truth was, he wanted her to come; it was rare when the two of them spent time together alone.

Sam dropped the bags onto the bed and sighed. "I suppose I could take-"

"Good. Let's go."

They both turned to the girl who was grinning down at her artwork. She looked back up at them and her smile quickly faded.

"Come on, kid. We're going to get something to eat. Food." He held his stomach. "We're going to get food."

The girl set her drawing down and took Jack's offered hand.

Sam couldn't help but be surprised that the girl trusted them again so soon after the incident with Janet not to long ago. "At least her hands don't appear to be bothering her, anymore, sir."

"Yeah. That's good." He looked down at the small hand in his, and a smile crept onto his face.

----

Once they were in the line, they let the girl pick out her own food, which in this case, was only a hot dog and roll. Jack helped himself to the special of the day, tuna, and Sam grabbed herself a salad and a goblet of blue jello.

The room was soon filled with the whispers of the many people occupying the commissary, and many fingers pointed in the direction of the girl in their company. Sam could only guess it was probably because of the major fights the child had gotten herself into… "Sir? Do you mind if we sit in the corner?" she asked, not wanting the child to be the center of attention today.

Jack had the same thought. They moved into the corner, which was always vacant. He set his tray down and picked up his sandwich as he slid into his seat. "So, what are we going to do today?" Jack asked.

"Well, actually sir. I have a few things I need to get done and-"

"O'Neill, Major Carter." Teal'c acknowledged, interrupting Sam's sentence as he walked over to them with a tray stacked high with all kinds of food.

The threesome turned to the tall Jaffa.

"Teal'c, grab a seat buddy." Jack said.

The girl didn't seem to mind someone else was sitting down at the table, until she caught a glimpse of the symbol branded on Teal'c's forehead. Her eyes widened, and she backed away as far as her chair would allow her to go.

"Is this the child Thor-"

"Yes, the very one herself." Jack turned and looked at her and quickly noticed her fear. What could have changed so quickly to make her scared? "Hey, what's wrong?"

The rest of the group turned to her as well.

"Hey," Sam said, guessing it was Teal'c that made her uncomfortable. "He's not going to hurt you. His name is Teal'c."

Teal'c bowed to the child. "I thought Doctor Fraiser said the child was deaf."

"She is." Both the baby-sitters replied, simultaneously.

The girl's chair bumped into the wall; she couldn't move back any further now. Jack was staring at her confused. When she saw the question in his eyes, she touched her forehead with a shaky finger and drew a circle.

Jack turned to Teal'c. "His symbol? You're scared… oh! You mean he's a Jaffa!" Jack patted his stomach. "A Jaffa?"

The girl hesitated before nodding, she stared at Teal'c, watching his every move, as if he would jump out and attack her.

"He's not bad." Sam said, not sure what else to say. "Teal'c is good." She moved closer to Teal'c and put her arm around him. "We're friends." She gave a huge smile. "Friends."

The girl shook her head, not breaking eye contact with the big man. She pointed to his first-prime symbol, and shook her head again.

"He's good." Jack didn't know how they were going to explain that to this kid. "He's with us. He's not going to hurt you." He copied Sam and put his arm around Teal'c. "You see?" Teal'c even attempted a smile, although, if anything, it looked like a wolf baring it's teeth.

The girl put her hand down and looked down at her food. She was mad that they didn't understand, and also scared, but she didn't show it. She covered it up by shoving food into her mouth, and watched as the others did the same…

* * *

Sorry it's short! I'll try and get up another one ASAP!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hi everyone, I'm sorry it took me so long to post this chapter. I've been sick, and Christmas and New Years didn't help anything… anyways, no more excuses! It's posted now! Thank you Aria-wolfstar for beta'ing this for me! You rock!

I hope you all had a great Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

**Ch 8: Missing Child**

Jack had left to go talk with General Hammond, leaving Sam alone to baby-sit the kid by herself. She didn't know where Daniel had disappeared to, and the girl didn't seem to really like Teal'c, so he had taken his leave out of kind respect.

"Finally." Sam muttered as she finished testing the minerals of a broken artifact SG-4 brought back earlier that day. She typed a few reminder notes on her laptop, before pushing a piece of the object under the microscope once more. "Hmm…"

"What's so, '_hmm'_?"

Sam looked up to see her CO standing in the doorway. She couldn't believe he was back already. She could have sworn he'd just left a moment ago. "Umm, nothing sir." Nothing he would understand anyway. She closed her laptop and smiled slightly.

Jack looked around the room, for any signs of the kid wondering around, making a mess, and causing trouble. But he didn't see her anywhere. "So, what'd you do? Drop her off at Daniel's? Stuff her in a closet?"

"What-…" Sam had completely forgotten about the kid. She couldn't remember the last time she saw the child. She had started her tests, and left the girl playing with her coloring book and crayons. Had she really got so busy that the girl slipped out of the room? Panic ran through her like wild fire. "I…I…"

Jack raised his brow. "You what?" He looked around the room once more. "You… lost her?" he supplied.

Sam grimaced. "… Yeah. I think I may have." She made sure the child wasn't anywhere in the lab before she turned to Jack. "I can't believe I did that! I got so wound up in my work, I didn't even realize. I'm sorry… where do you think she would gave gone?" She was beyond panicking now. This wasn't the first time she'd lost a child before, she'd lost her brother's kid before, but it wasn't as serious as this.

"Don't worry, Carter." Jack said, feeling her worry. "We'll fine her. I'll go talk to Hammond again real quick."

Sam nodded. "I'll start looking."

And with that, they split up.

----

Jack ran into Daniel on to way to General Hammond's office. "Daniel!" He shouted, out of breath. "Have you seen the kid? Anywhere?"

Daniel looked up from him book. "What? What do you mean have I…- you lost her?"

"She's missing. Carter doesn't know where she went. Have you seen her?" Jack was beginning to lose the little patience he had left.

Daniel's eyes grew big. "Sam lost her?"

"DANIEL!"

"No, sorry, I haven't seen her." Daniel watched as his friend turned and fled down the hall without another word. "But I'll grab Teal'c and help you look for her if you want!" he called after the retreating figure.

----

Sam searched frantically through every storage room on that level. She stopped and asked everyone if they had seen the missing child, and so far no one had. She was about search all of the offices when she heard her CO's voice through the intercom.

"Hello, this is Colonel O'Neill speaking. We've seem to have lost a child on the base. If anyone sees her, or has her at the moment, please let Major Carter or myself know, and please do not try to bring her to us, unless you're ready for a fight. Thank you."

Sam laughed quietly. She could see an airman now trying to bring the stubborn girl to them. She finished checking all the rooms on that level, even the ones with access cards but found nothing. She then made her way to the elevator; the girl couldn't have gone that far, could she? Unnoticed?

"Major Carter." Teal'c greeted.

"Teal'c." Sam said, relieved she was no longer the only one looking. "You haven't seen her, have you?"

"I have not." He responded. "Do you require assistance?"

Sam took the offer gratefully.

----

Jack hurried out of the elevator, only to find Sam and Teal'c waiting to go in.

"She's not on this level, sir." Sam said, pressing the bottom for the next floor.

Jack shrugged and jumped back into the elevator before the doors closed. "Are you sure? Positive she's just not hiding in like, someone's office or something?"

"Yes, Colonel. I'm positive."

Jack nodded. "Okay. General Hammond has teams sweeping levels twenty-eight through thirty as we speak. He doesn't want this child to mess with anything."

"And knowing this child, she would." Sam said.

"Indeed."

They both turned to Teal'c, slightly surprised. He hadn't really met this kid before, so how would he know? There must have been a lot of rumors going on already. Poor kid.

The doors opened and they all walked out.

"Okay, Carter, you search every office, even the ones with access cards, just in case she managed to get a hold of one. Teal'c, you check the sleeping quarters, and I'll check the rest of the rooms." Jack said, clapping his hands together.

"Yes sir." Sam responded, pulling out her card and walking away.

Teal'c set out to do his task, leaving Jack alone in the big hall.

"Okay…" he picked his first room and began to search it, finding no sign of anyone being there in a few days. "This could take longer then I thought." Looking for just one person wasn't as bad, but looking for a small child who could hide anywhere and everywhere, well, that would be a while…

----

_An hour later…_

Jack felt like giving up, but he knew he couldn't. It wasn't safe having a child running around on the base; anything could happen. Especially if the child was a deaf alien. He already made sure the armories were locked by key. He had searched four levels with Carter and Teal'c, and there had been no sign of her on those, or any other levels.

"Colonel?"

Jack turned to Carter, who must have just finished looking through the last of the rooms. "What?"

"That's it sir. No more levels to check. She's not here sir. SG-5, SG-7, SG-10, SG-11 and SG-12 cleared the rest of the levels." She didn't know where else the girl could be, and she didn't think she could feel any worse than she already was.

Jack sighed. "I think they must have just missed her." In situations like this, it was just best to be optimistic.

Sam shrugged. It was possible; she was afraid she might have missed her too. The small child could fit in just about any small place imaginable. "Sir, I probably should go report to General Hammond. Fill him in."

Jack nodded. "Yeah. You go do that. I'm going to start looking on the next level, just in case they missed her."

"I will accompany you." Teal'c said, following him to the elevator.

Sam gave them a slight wave before taking off down the hall.

----

"So, Teal'c, where do you think… where would you go if you were a little kid in a new environment?" Jack asked as the doors began to close.

"I do-"

"COLONEL!"

Jack stuck his hand through the doors before they could shut, and quickly reopened them. "Carter? What's wrong?"

"They found her sir. Well, Daniel found her. She's in his office right now." Sam said, her face holding back a relieved smile. She gestured to him to follow.

And the three of them took off in a jog towards Daniel's office.

----

"Hey! You!" Jack called as he entered the familiar office. "Why'd you run off?"

The girl was staring at the fish tank in the corner of the room, her eyes wide with interest.

"Hey," Jack looked through the other side of the tank to see the girl's face.

The girl looked up at him and stumbled back in surprise.

"Sorry," Jack said, moving over to help her up. "What are you doing in here?"

Sam joined them.

"You can't run off like that. We were worried." Jack said. "I know the fish may be more interesting then us but you're not allowed to wander off by yourself."

"O'Neill. What will you accomplish by speaking to this child?" Teal'c asked.

"Umm…" He shrugged. "I don't know."

Sam began to look over the office, finding scattered papers and several broken artifacts, one that she knew Daniel would not be happy about. "Colonel. This isn't good."

"What isn't?" He turned to her. "Oh no…"

The girl stared at them innocently.

"This isn't good."

Just that moment Daniel chose to rush into the room at full speed. "Good you found her! I heard she was in my office so I came to see if… she…" he stopped once seeing the mess. "Oh no!" He rushed over to his artifact. "No! I was this close to finishing this up! I-" he turned to the girl, trying to calm himself.

The girl took a step back, sensing his anger. She looked up at Jack to protect her; afraid Daniel would do something.

Jack turned back to Daniel. "I'm sure she didn't mean to, Daniel. I think she was just looking around, and maybe bumped into it." He held out his hand for the girl to take. "I think she's sorry, just look at her."

Daniel looked away from the kid, annoyed. He quickly began to pick up the pieces and placed them on his desks, trying to figure out of he could even read the text now. "Jack, can you just take her out of here before she causes more damage?"

"Yeah." Jack began to lead her away. "Because that's her purpose for being here, so she can destroy all your stuff…" he shook his head slightly before walking away.

----

Sam walked slowly into the girl's room. She watched as Jack helped her color a picture. She smiled. He really did have a way with kids. "Colonel, a word?"

Jack looked up from the paper and nodded. "Yeah." He squeezed the girl's shoulders. "I'll be right back, okay? You can finish coloring the sun for me, huh?" he pointed to the yellow circle before standing up and walking over to Sam. "What's wrong?"

"I just finished talking with General Hammond…" Sam started.

"And?"

"And, he doesn't think it's a good idea to keep the kid on the base. He's worried she might get into more trouble. If she sneaks away from us again, and gets in the way of an SG team on their way out, or to the infirmary, it could be bad, sir."

"Then we'll just have a guard stand outside and watch her."

Sam shook her head. "No sir. I mentioned that to General Hammond. He doesn't think there should be a child on this base, period. So, I volunteered to take her home."

Jack's eyes widened. "You _what_?"

"General Hammond didn't think it was a good idea at first, but where else would we keep her? It's not fair to lock her up because she's curious about the base. So, General Hammond said I could take her home on one condition…"

Jack raised an eyebrow, wondering what that would be.

"Someone else has to be there with me. Just in case something happens, after all, she is an alien child. We don't really know what she's capable of. I didn't bother to ask Daniel, I don't think he'd want to leave right now, and the kid doesn't seem to like Teal'c very much, and-"

"I'll come." Jack said, saving Carter from fumbling over her words.

Sam nodded. "I thought you would. But, there are rules. General Hammond doesn't want us taking her to the park, or going shopping or something that involves somewhere with a crowd. We don't know how'll she'll react to that, and frankly I'd like not to take the chance."

"What? Can't take her anywhere with a crowd? Carter, name one place where we _wont_ find a crowd! The poor girl is going to suffocate in that house!"

"I'm sorry sir. General Hammond doesn't want to take the risk." Sam turned to the girl. "I'll start packing up her stuff, if you have anything here that you need to bring, you might want to grab it. I'm going to be leaving soon."

Jack nodded. "Okay." He waved goodbye to the girl and hurried out of the room.

----

Jack returned ten minutes later with his jacket and baseball cap. "Okay, I'm ready, do you need some help?"

Sam had stuffed four boxes full of stuff, and placed them on the bed. "No, sir. I think this is all she'll need. I still have quite a few toys over at my house from the times Cassie spent the night."

Jack looked around the room. "Well, you might not want to forget her elephant, and the gameboy, I'm going to teach her how to play with it later." He picked up the two items and placed them in the boxes. "Okay, I can bring over a few things tomorrow if she needs them. Did you get her clothes?"

Sam nodded. "They're in the bags by the door."

Jack turned and looked at them. "Okay. I think she knows something's up."

The girl stared at both of them, puzzled.

"Yeah. I think she does. She's a smart kid." Sam picked up a few boxes. "Well, I'm going to take these to my car, can you watch her?"

"Yeah. Sure." He made his way over to the girl. "Hi. Oh wow. You finished your picture? It's very nice." He gave her a warming smile. "Very nice."

The girl nodded and picked up another crayon.

----

Jack and Sam escorted the child outside. Once there, the girl took in a deep breath of fresh air, obviously happy to be in the outdoors once again. They made their way over to Sam's vintage blue Volvo and finished loading the last of the stuff.

"Sir, do you think you should sit in back with her? Or do you think she's fine by herself? Or maybe she should sit in front?" Sam said in a top speed voice she normally only used in briefings, or under pressure.

"Carter." Jack said, holding his hands up for her to slow down. He could tell she was worrying too much about even the simplest thing, and a smile quirked on his lips. "She's fine anywhere we put her. Just… take it easy." He knew she hated when he said that, but he didn't care right now, he never saw Carter worry this much, even when some of the worst stuff went wrong, so she must be _really_ freaking out. "She's going to be fine."

The girl stared at Sam with an expressionless face. She held tightly onto Jack's hand. The last car ride wasn't her idea of fun. She had never been in a device like that, it went to fast… in truth, it scared her.

"I don't think she wants another car ride, Colonel." Sam said. "Look at her."

Jack glanced at her. "Well, I don't think it would be a good idea walking thirty miles to your house… especially with all of this stuff. She'll live. I'll go in the back with her. It'll be fine. Trust me."

Sam nodded. She did. He was one of the few people she could trust. "Yes sir."

Jack gave her an encouraging smile. "Come on, let's get this party started." He tugged on the girl's hand and she followed him into the car. Jack buckled his seat belt and the girl quickly followed.

Sam shut the door for them before walking over and getting into the drivers seat. "Are we all set?" She asked, looking back in the review mirror. "Good, let's go."

The girl suddenly leaned forward and tugged on Sam's belt. Her face urging Sam to buckle it.

Sam looked back at her. "What's wrong?"

Jack smiled proudly. "I think she wants you to buckle up." He patted the kid's head. "No one can say I didn't teach her well."

Sam smiled and pulled the belt over her. "No sir."

----

Well, there you go, I'll try and post the next chapter ASAP, but I have a lot of school to catch up in, so, no promises when!

Thanks for reading!

Please review!


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Sam's House...**

Sam pulled her car to a stop in front of her house. "Here we are," she turned back to the two people in backseat. "Colonel, I only have one guest room, so either you or…" she paused, wishing she knew the child's name, "the kid can have the pullout couch." She unbuckled and stepped out of the car.

Jack nodded. "Okay, give the bed to the kid. I can sleep on the pullout couch." He helped the girl unbuckle.

Sam nodded; she had thought he would say that. "Umm, one other thing, I don't think the fridge is stocked. We might have to go grocery shopping later. I can call Daniel and have him come baby-sit." She grabbed a large box from the trunk.

Jack nodded again; he still held the kid's hand as he grabbed a few bags from the trunk with his free one.

Sam kicked the gate open. Balancing the box on her knee, she pulled out a handful of mail from her letterbox. "Haven't been home in a while," she explained. "Normally I have a kid come by and take care of my mail and plants, but he's sick." She set the box down on the porch and unlocked the door. "Go ahead, I'll get the rest of the stuff. Make yourself at home."

As she hurried back to the car, she hoped she hadn't left her house a mess. She normally didn't, but since she had been busy the last couple days…

Jack stepped into Carter's house. Looking around the large living room, he noticed how much it had changed over the last few years. He hadn't been to her house since the incident with Orlin three years ago. "Come on, wanna see your new bedroom?" He asked, putting his hands on the small child's shoulders.

Sam was back with another large box in her hands. "It's just down the hall, the first door on the right." She said before she hurried back out of the house.

Jack knew where it was, although he wasn't exactly sure how. He never did see her whole house before. "This way." He led the girl down the long hall and stopped at the door. As he opened it, he realized it wasn't exactly how he would have imagined it.

The bright pink walls with orange polka dots seemed to jump at him. There was a computer in the corner of the room, a TV sitting on the dresser. And white carpet that made Jack feel the need to take off his shoes to walk on. This had definitely been young Cassie's room at one point.

"Well…" Jack cleared his throat. "Here you are." He looked down at the child.

The child's hazel-green eyes grew wide as she looked around the room. Her mouth hung open as she took a step back in surprise. Jack thought it was safe to say that she liked it.

"I'm sorry if it's a mess! I haven't touched it since Cassie last stayed!" Sam's voice shouted from the living room.

"No! It's fine! Perfect!" Jack responded. Quieting his voice he looked down at the child and murmured, "You won't have any trouble getting acquainted with this room will you?"

Sam set the last of the bags and boxes down. She took her first look around the living room. It wasn't as bad as she expected it to be, although there were a few books lying on the couch, and a cup of cold coffee on the TV, but it could have been a lot worse. She hurried to put the stray objects away.

"Carter."

Sam snapped around, spilling some contents in the cup as she did. "Is something wrong, sir?"

"No." He replied. He looked down at the objects in her hand and shook his head slightly. "You don't have to worry about cleaning up, it's fine. You're making me feel bad."

Sam continued what she was doing. "And how exactly am I doing that, sir?"

"My house is no way near as tidy as yours." He said simply. "You don't have to clean on my behalf, and I'm pretty sure the kid wouldn't mind-"

Sam panicked, suddenly interrupting O'Neill's sentence. "Where is she?"

"She's in the room. Don't worry. She loves it." Jack smiled. He took the coffee cup away from her, and walked towards the kitchen.

Sam hesitated before walking to the guest room. There she found the girl on the bed, stroking the soft pink blanket with her hands. She was actually smiling.

"I take it you like it?"

The girl looked up, and flashed a large smile at her.

Sam stood confused for a moment. She wasn't sure how the kid knew she was there; maybe she had seen her from the corner of her eye. Shrugging away the thought, she walked over to the bed and sat next to her. "My friend Cassie spent a lot of time in this room."

Jack poked his head into the room. "I'm going to call Daniel. I checked your fridge, I don't think you have anything that hasn't expired yet."

Sam nodded. "Alright."

----

Daniel and Teal'c arrived at Sam's house half an hour later. Daniel knocked on the hard wood door, expecting someone to answer almost immediately, but no one did.

"Hmm… maybe they didn't hear." Daniel muttered, more to himself then Teal'c. He knocked again, louder then he had the first time, and with decreasing patience. A couple minutes later there was still no reply.

"Perhaps they cannot hear us." Teal'c suggested.

Daniel nodded. Or, maybe they had gotten into another fight. Maybe the girl really did have powers. After all, Janet said she could be advanced, so it was possible that she could have done something… abnormal. After a minute of thinking it was the best decision, he entered the house, and glanced around. "Hello? Anyone home?"

The house seemed abandoned; the silence that lingered in the air was unusual.

"Major Carter. Colonel O'Neill." Teal'c said firmly.

They heard a long "Shhhh!"

Teal'c pointed to a room down the hall, and they hurried over to it. Pushing the already opened door, they found Jack grinning like a fool as he looked down at the two girls on the bed, who were staring intensely at each other.

"Jack, what's going-"

"Shh!"

"Jack!"

"Shh!" Jack raised his finger to his mouth. "Just a minute." He whispered.

Daniel shared a concerned glance with Teal'c.

"O'Neill." Teal'c said again. "What is-"

Sam blinked. "NO!" She screamed, throwing her hands up in the air in defeat.

Jack sat on the bed and patted the girl's back. "Good job! Alright." He turned to his 2IC. "Carter, I believe you now owe me another five bucks."

Sam rubbed her burning eyes and blinked rapidly. "Yes sir, I know." Her voice was clearly irritated.

Jack grinned and waved to the other two men in the room. "Hey guys, sorry about that."

"What were you guys doing?" Daniel asked, making his way over to the group on the bed.

"Staring contest," Jack replied. "Who ever blinks is out. And, go figure, the kid won." He smiled. "I won twenty bucks from this kid. I don't think a certain Major we all know, likes to lose."

Sam stood up and dusted herself off. "No. I don't." She admitted.

Daniel turned to the girl, who was smiling at Sam – wait, smiling? "Guys, you got her to smile." Daniel said, amazed. "How'd you do that? I mean she didn't seem to-"

"She likes to win." Jack stated.

"How does she know she won?" Daniel asked. "How did you communicate to her?" He was obviously jealous that Jack had done something he couldn't.

"I didn't do anything. She's a smart kid. Once the game started, I think she got the hang of it. She's not as clueless as she looks." Jack patted her head proudly. "Okay, it's a good thing you two are here. This kid is starving."

"How can you tell?" Sam asked.

"Because, she's got to be. She hasn't eaten anything in a while." Jack said, his tone of voice suggesting he was irritated by the fact that what seemed so obvious to him escaped the minds of his brilliant team members.

Sam nodded. "Of course, sir."

"You two better hurry. I saw what she did to you two. I don't want to go home with a black eye." Daniel said, making himself comfortable on the bed, while Teal'c stood in the doorway.

Sam nodded and slipped back on her shoes. "I'll be right back."

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Jack asked, grabbing her arm.

"To the grocery store," she stated, giving him a look that plainly said _I thought we just discussed this…_

"Without me? You're going to get a bunch of healthy foods, and don't try to deny it, I've shopped with you before, remember? You're broken leg? I'm sorry. But I will _not_ be eating salad for weeks." He said, grabbing his jacket.

Sam smiled, thinking back when she broke her leg, six years ago. How did he remember that? "Alright sir."

"Giving in already?" Jack asked, grinning as he following her out of the room.

Sam nodded. "Yes, sir. If I remember right, you complained for that entire first week. I managed to talk Janet to come and stay with me."

"It wasn't my fault I stayed. She's the one who ordered someone here anyways."

"I know." She grabbed her purse and headed out of the door.

"Can I drive?"

Sam fished in her purse for her keys. "I think I can handle it, sir." She got into the car and started her engine, and was about to take off when her CO shouted for her to stop. Turning towards him, she spotted the disturbance.

The girl was running out of the house, looking absolutely terrified.

Jack quickly jumped out and caught her before she ran into the old car. "What's wrong? What happened?"

The poor kid was crying. Hard. She threw her arms tightly around Jack's neck and buried her face into his shoulder. Her whole body shook as she cried.

Sam hurried out of the car and made her way over to Jack. "Colonel, what's…" she stopped when she saw the girl hugging him. It was sight she didn't think she would ever see. "Whoa."

Jack turned to the Major, who looked as surprised as he felt. He stroked the back of the girls hair as he murmured softly, "Shh… it's okay."

Daniel and Teal'c hurried out of the house, and caught up with the group.

"What happened?" Sam demanded, since she didn't think this kid would come screaming out of the house for no reason at all. And especially not throw her arms around the man she had only just met the previous day. After all, she was scared of him not too long ago…

"Nothing! Nothing happened, she just watched you guys leave then went berserk. The next thing we knew she was running out here in tears! We didn't do anything, right, Teal'c?" Daniel felt the need for someone to support him.

"I conquer. We did nothing to upset her mood."

Daniel nodded.

Sam turned back to the hugging people. "Sir, maybe it's not a good idea for you to leave after all. I don't think she wants you to go." She understood why. Jack was the first person she met, so it was natural that she was beginning to trust him before she even met the others. But she still felt a twinge of jealously.

"I don't know. I think she should get used to all of us. I just don't know if you want your living room to be a disaster when we come home." He DID want to go shopping, not only because Sam had a bad taste in food, also because he liked her company, and this was something they could do together without being frowned upon.

The girl loosened her grip around his neck and slid to the ground. She picked up his hand and pulled him in the direction of the house. Her eyes pleading for him to follow her.

It was one of the cutest things Sam had ever seen. "Sir?" She asked, she didn't think he would leave her now…

Jack pulled his hand away from the kid, and kneeled down. "Hey," he took her shoulders. "You need to stay with them, okay?" She was going to have to get used to the fact that he wasn't always going to be there twenty-four-seven. "I'm not going to be gone long, okay? Teal'c and Daniel want to watch you." He pushed her towards them.

The girl backed up, and turned to Jack stubbornly. She pointed to her forehead viciously. When Jack didn't say anything, she turned to Sam and tapped her forehead.

"I know he's Jaffa. But he's good." Sam said, how could she tell that to her?

The girl shook her head, her face full of confusion. A tear slid down her cheek as she looked back at Teal'c and Daniel.

Jack nodded. "Yes. You need to stay with them. I have to go. If I don't, you may be stuck with the same food for a week. And we both know you need some fat in your diet."

The girl blinked.

Jack let out a long sigh and tore his gaze away from the child. "Okay, Carter, let's go."

Sam could honestly say was surprised that Jack was leaving the girl. However, she nodded and got back into the car, Jack did the same.

The girl pressed her face against the window, her eyes pleading for him not to leave her with the Jaffa.

Jack waved as Daniel and Teal'c pulled the child away from the car.

Sam stepped on the gas, and drove away, leaving the small child fighting fiercely with her new babysitters…

----

Hope you all enjoyed it! Thanks Aria-wolfstar for beta'ing this for me!

Please review!


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Aveena**

Jack O'Neill was in the middle of putting a six-pack of beer into his shopping cart when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out and looked at the caller… Daniel. He thought about not answering it, but what if it was some big emergency? He pressed 'talk'. "What's wrong?" he sighed into the phone.

"Jack. Umm… nothing, that's what has us worried. As soon as you left the kid stopped crying, sat down on the step and is refusing to even look at us. I don't know what to do."

"Daniel." Jack started. "What's wrong?"

"… I don't know what to do with her?" Daniel tried. "No, seriously, Jack. Don't hang up on me. I have no idea what to do. She won't go into the house, I barely touched her and she jumped away. What do I do?"

"Daniel, is she hurting you?"

"…No."

"Is she hurting Teal'c?"

"No."

"Goodbye Daniel." He hung up the phone and slid it into his pocket. He shook his head and grabbed several bags of chips. He didn't understand Daniel sometimes.

"Colonel." Sam called, pushing her cart around the corner to meet him in the middle. "Are you ready?"

"Almost." Jack looked through her cart, not surprised by her choice in food. "Well, Danny-boy called. He's flipping out because the girl is sitting on the step and won't budge."

Sam turned to him curiously. "Are you serious?"

"Oh yeah."

Sam shrugged. "Oh. I got hotdogs, for the kid, just in case she doesn't want to eat anything else."

Jack nodded. "Good thinking." He had done the same, but he decided not to say anything, after all, you couldn't ever have enough hotdogs, could you?

----

Jack pushed open Carter's front door with his foot. His arms were full of bags, over flowing with food. He was relived not to find the kid outside still; the sweltering heat of late made prolonged exposure to the outdoors dangerous. He made his way into the kitchen, but didn't find any signs of anyone else in the house.

"Daniel?" He called, pulling out a few bags of potato chips. "Teal'c?"

Sam walked into the room, her hands filled with bags as well. There was no more room on the counter, so she placed them on the ground.

"You didn't see Daniel on your way in, did you?" He asked, shoving a gallon of milk into the almost empty fridge.

"No, I didn't, sir."

"Hmm…" He helped Sam unload a few of her bags before he stopped. "I'm going to go make sure she hasn't killed any of them yet."

Sam nodded. "I think I'll join you, sir."

Abandoning the food, they set out to find their friends.

"Daniel?"

No reply.

"Hmm…" Jack glanced at Sam, who seemed really worried. "Maybe they're asleep." He knew it was highly doubtful, as he didn't think the kid would allow herself to fall asleep with two men she hardly knew watching over her.

Sam raised her eyebrow, and made her way to the bedroom, only to find it empty. "Nope. Got another suggestion, sir?"

Jack shrugged.

At that moment they heard a loud squeal come from the back yard.

"What are they doing out there?" Sam asked, more to herself then to Jack. She led the way to her sliding glass door and opened it, but there was no one in sight. She didn't have a large backyard, so they should have easily spotted them.

"Daniel!" Jack shouted. "Teal'c!"

A minute later, Daniel's head poked out from around the corner of the house. "Jack? Sam. When did you two get back?" He motioned for Teal'c and the girl.

"A couple minutes ago. Why didn't you answer us?" Jack asked, as the girl ran up to Daniel, out of breath.

"What have you guys been doing?" Sam asked.

"Umm… just playing. Five minutes after I called you, she tried to run away from us, she ran into the neighbor's backyard. So, obviously we chased her. And now we made sort of a game out of it." Daniel ran his hand through his sweaty hair.

The girl saw Jack and smiled. Giving him a slight wave, then one to Sam.

"O'Neill." Teal'c greeted. "I am happy to see you again. Do you still require our assistance?"

Jack shook his head. "No, I think we can manage. Thanks."

Teal'c gave a slight bow. "Then we will be leaving, Daniel Jackson." He said in a firm voice that left no room for argument.

"He's just tired." Daniel said, pointing to Teal'c. "We got a good workout today."

"I can tell…" Sam said.

"Hey, kid, so-"

"Aveena." Daniel corrected, holding up a finger.

Jack and Sam stared at him, puzzled. "What are you talking about?" Jack asked.

"Her name is Aveena."

Sam's eyes went wide. "You found out her name?" She asked, amazed, wondering how he could have accomplished such a thing.

Daniel shook his head. "No, I didn't. I named her." He smiled. "Aveena means 'The unknown fighter', I thought it was a perfect match."

"Unknown fighter, eh?" Jack nodded.

"Daniel. I don't think we should name her." Sam said. "She's a kid, she already has a name."

"Yes. And one we won't ever figure out. I thought we might as well call her something. And it's not like she will mind." Daniel patted the girl's head.

Sam didn't want to argue any further, but she still didn't feeling comfortable that they were naming someone who they had no right to name.

"Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said.

"Yeah, coming." He replied, he turned to 'Aveena' and waved. "I'll see you around, I guess." He followed Teal'c into the house and a minute later they heard his car speed down the street.

Teal'c was definitely driving.

Jack turned to the girl. "So, it looks like you made some new friends, hey Aveena?" Jack said, kneeling down to her level. "Did you guys have fun? 'Cause you're covered in dirt."

Sam winced her herself. Dirt. She didn't want dirt tracked all over her house. She knew she would have to get used to it. This was a KID after all. "Let's get inside. It's hot out here." She took Aveena's hand and led her into the house, with Colonel O'Neill following right behind.

----

That night went more smoothly then Jack and Sam imagined. They had eaten dinner with no problem. Aveena had only eaten a plain hotdog again (Jack had tried to give her some chocolate chip ice cream, but failed).

They had all moved to the living room to watch a movie, but Aveena went crazy when they turned the television on. After she had run from the room screaming, they decided to stick to the game she knew best; the staring game.

Sam didn't know how long she had been playing, but her eyes were really tired. She didn't want to be the party pooper and end the game, but she found herself hoping that Jack would soon.

"Come on, Carter, blink." Jack said. "That's an order."

Sam automatically blinked. "Sir!" she cried in protest when she realized what had happened. "You can't order me to blink!" she turned to the smiling girl. "She's won again!"

"I can order you to do anything. That doesn't mean you HAVE to, well, at your house anyways." He gave her a smile. "Now, why don't we all head to bed?" he looked at his watch. "It's getting kinda late."

Sam nodded. "Good idea, sir." She felt like giving a cheer. She hadn't wanted something to be over so badly in a long time. "I'll get the bed ready." She stood up and walked out of the room.

Jack leaned over and ticked the child. "Come on, kiddo. You're going to bed."

Aveena's face quickly turned into a stubborn child's look. As Jack carried her down the hall and into the bedroom, she began to shake her head wildly, knowing exactly what they had planned for her to do.

"Now, now, now… you're going to be a good girl aren't you? You're going to go to bed without any complaints, right?" He rubbed her shaking head. He walked into the room to find Sam clearing off the bed. "Hey, look, she's making it all nice and comfy for you. Okay?"

Aveena continued to shake her head, crossing her arms as Jack sat her on the mattress.

Sam sighed; she was too tired to fight with the child. "Please?" She pleaded. "It's late, and you should be in bed."

Aveena glared at her.

"Hey, that's not nice." Jack said, waggling a finger at the girl. "You should be nice to Carter, after all this is her house and she graciously let you stay here. You-"

"Sir, it's okay."

Jack turned and nodded. He paused for a moment, considering her, and then, shrugging, said, "Okay." He pulled the blanket over the sitting girl and pushed her back into the pillows. "Go to sleep."

Aveena threw the covers off but didn't sit up. She seemed confused, not really understanding what they were doing, and why.

Jack pulled the blanket back over her. "Go to sleep." He ordered, remembering the days Charlie had put up a fight in order to stay up later. He had given in a few times then, and regretted it. He turned to leave when he noticed Sam hadn't moved.

"Carter?"

Sam turned to him. "I feel like I'm abandoning her, sir." She said softly.

Jack moved over and tugged her hand. "Carter. She'll be fine, let her be." He said. "She needs to know that we're the bosses, and she's the child. She needs to know she has to listen-… do as we say."

Sam nodded solemnly. She knew he was right, even if she wasn't too fond of the answer he gave.

He tugged her hand once again. "Come on, leave her alone. She'll fall asleep faster if we're gone."

Sam felt bad, the way that child looked at her. "Yes, sir," she murmured as she let him pull her out of the room, and shut the door behind them. "I don't know how parents handle it," she said, walking back into the living and getting comfortable on the couch.

"Carter, you put her to bed. You didn't send her to her first day of school." He said, sitting down next to her. "That's one of the hardest things I ever had to do…"

Sam looked over at him. "What? Send Charlie to school?" Normally, she avoided the subject of his late son, but as it was, he brought it up, and there was an exception for everything.

Jack nodded, thinking back. "Yeah… he was so… he cried." Jack looked away. "I had to shove him into that bus, and when he got home he couldn't wait to go back on it the next day." He sighed. "Wanna beer?"

Sam shook her head. "Thank you." She couldn't imagine losing a child, especially with her own gun. Jack stood up and left the room.

She let out a breath of air. She was tired, but she wasn't ready for bed yet. She picked up the remote and turned on the TV. Normally, she didn't watch television, but once and a while it was good to see what the writers could come up with.

Jack walked back into the room with a beer bottle in his mouth. He took the remote away, she didn't protest, and turned it to his favorite show. The Simpson's. "I've seen this one like a million times." He muttered, setting his beer on the coffee table.

Sam took the remote back. "Well, then, let's not make you watch it once more, huh?" She flipped through the channels. "Let's see… umm…"

"Carter, if you're not going to watch anything, why don't you let me watch _my_ show?" Jack asked, sure he seen the episode so many times he could memorize it, but he liked it, a lot.

Sam turned to him. "I don't want you to have to sit through another hour of that show. I know how much you hate it." She paused on CBS, which was playing NCIS. "Wow, Gibbs got a mustache, interesting. What else have I missed?" She dropped the remote and got cozy.

"I can't believe you watch this show!"

Sam didn't take her eyes off the TV. "Why is that so hard to believe?" she asked.

"Because…" Jack said, trying to come up with several intelligent answers. "For the first thing, they show a ton of blood and guts… dead bodies… you know, stuff you don't need to see, you already see enough of that gunk. And second… the Simpson's is better." He finished with a sip of beer.

Sam raised her eyebrows. "That's really a matter of opinion, sir."

"Oh, come on, Carter. You know what I mean. This is such a gory kind of show… and-"

"I happen to like it over the Simpson's. Sir, if you remember, you made me sit through seven hours worth of episodes…" She reminded him.

"I didn't make you."

"Oh, yes you did." She looked at him.

"How?"

She looked embarrassed to answer. "You blackmailed me."

"Oooh! Right! I remember now." He grinned foolishly. "I said I'd take away your blue jello from you for a month."

Sam nodded and turned back to the screen. She tossed the remote to him. "Here." She stood up. "I'm going to go take a shower and change my bandage." She walked out of the room, leaving Jack alone with his cartoons…

----

Sam stepped out of the warm shower and wrapped a towel around her. She quickly dried herself off and wiped the towel across the mirror, free from steam. She touched her wound and winced. She shook her head and quickly got dressed into her pajamas.

Stepping out of the warm bathroom into the cool house, she wrapped her arms around herself, to keep some of the coldness away. She heard the TV and guessed Colonel O'Neill was still watching the Simpson's. She crossed the hall and pushed open the guest room, half expecting to find the child asleep, she wasn't.

"Hey, what are you doing?" She asked, crossing the room. "You should be asleep."

Aveena turned to her as Sam sat on the bed next to her. She no longer looked mad, just disappointed.

Sam gave her a smile placed her hand on her shoulders. "Hey, are you okay? You look a little… down." She squeezed the small shoulder before releasing it. Looking around the almost pitch-black room, she thought, maybe the kid was afraid of the dark. "I may have a nightlight," she said softly. "I'll go get it." She stood up, and left the room.

Sam found the nightlight in the basket full of junk above her fridge. She tested it before hurrying back to Aveena. She hadn't seen this nightlight since Cassie was ten, whenever she spent the night here she would need it. "Here it is." Sam said as she walked back into the room. "I found it." She plugged it into the outlet next to the bed, and the light spread around them. "Is that better?"

Aveena jumped slightly at the new light. She turned behind her and saw Sam smiling at her. She gave a quick smile.

"Okay, well, I probably should be getting to bed too," She pushed herself to her feet. "Goodnight." She left the room, shutting the door behind her as she did.

"Carter?"

Sam almost jumped, but managed to stop herself. She turned around to see her CO standing there. "Colonel, I was just about to get you your blankets and pillows…"

Jack nodded. "Is she asleep?" He motioned to the door.

Sam shook her head. "Not yet, sir. I put a nightlight next to the bed. I think that may help." She turned to the cupboards down the hall and walked to them. "I'm sorry, I don't have any regular extra blankets, do you want flower power or-"

"The Simpson's?" Jack asked incredulously, staring at the comforter before him. "I didn't take you for-"

"Cassie's."

"Oh." He pulled the blanket out. "This will work. Thanks."

"I'll get you a pillow." She said, disappearing into a room, and coming out with two pillows a minute later. "Here you go. Are you sure you don't want-"

"I'm fine, Carter, thanks." He said, softly interrupting her as he took the pillows. "Thanks."

"Goodnight, sir." She said.

"'Night."

----

Thanks Aria-wolfstar for beta'ing this for me!

I hope you all enjoyed it, please review!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Thank you for the reviews! Thanks Aria-wolfstar for beta'ing this for me!!!

**Chapter 11: Another day of babysitting…**

"-Are clear today for another perfect day? Let's check on this weeks forecast… here we go, you see the…"

Jack's eyes flew open at the sudden noise. Blinking rapidly he turned his eyes to the television, only to find Aveena standing in front of it, wide-eyed. "Hey," he threw his blanket off of him, and scrambled to his feet. "What are you doing up?" He glanced at the clock that told him it wasn't even two yet. "You should be in bed." He walked over to her and tapped her shoulder.

Aveena didn't move; she stood frozen at the pictures in the large box. Reaching out, she touched the man behind the glass, tears gathering in her eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Jack asked, turning her away from the TV. "What's the matter?" he wiped her tears away gently with his thumb.

At first the small child seemed surprised to see him there, as if she hadn't felt his hand on her shoulder. She turned back to the TV and pointed to the man, her eyes leaking tears once again.

Jack couldn't understand what she was trying to say. Perhaps the man on the TV reminded her of someone, someone on her own planet. Or maybe it was just something else entirely. He couldn't help but feel a little frustrated as he found himself wishing she had a better way to communicate with him.

"What's wrong with her?" Sam asked as she came out of her room in her bathrobe wrapped around her.

Jack turned around to face the worried blond. "I don't know." He replied. "I just woke up and-"

"Did the TV scare her?" Sam asked. Last time Aveena saw the television, she had run from the room. Sam moved slowly over to the two.

Aveena sniffled and wrapped her arms around herself. She looked from Jack to Sam, her face annoyed, and rightfully so, since she couldn't seem to make the two adults understand.

Sam turned off the TV. "Is that better?"

Aveena looked at the blank screen and gave a nod of satisfaction.

Jack picked up the child into his arms. "Come on, it's back to bed, little lady." He carried her back into her bedroom and tucked her back into her covers. "Go to sleep." He ordered.

Aveena rolled to her side and closed her eyes obediently.

Jack patted her. "Good girl."

"Do you think she's okay?" Sam asked, leaning against the doorway.

Jack nodded. "She's fine. We can go back to bed, I think she'll actually going to get some sleep now."

"Okay, goodnight, sir. Again."

----

Jack woke to the sound of running water, then glass shattering. He was up in a flash. He hurried into the kitchen, expecting to find Aveena causing some more mischief, but instead he found a certain Major.

"Damn it." Sam muttered to herself, she kneeled down and began to pick up the broken plate. This was the second one she had broke this month, at the rate she was going; she wouldn't have any left by the end of the year.

"Need any help?" Jack asked, walking over to her, picking up some glass shards on his way. She must have gotten up early; she was in her workout clothes. Sweat leaked through her shirt and her face was flushed.

"Thank you sir," Sam said, pulling the trashcan out from under the sink and dumping the broken pieces in. "I was just washing it and it slipped-"

"Carter, you don't need an excuse to break a plate, trust me, it happens all the time." He gave her a warm smile. Just then the familiar smell of cinnamon hit him. "Are you cooking?" He asked incredulously. Carter…cook? He never thought those two words would go together, as he been on many missions where he had listened to her talk about her experiences with cooking.

Sam grinned proudly. "I thought I would try to make my mom's cinnamon rolls," she paused, "I think that's the only decent thing I can make." She took the broom and swept up the small remaining shards of glass into the dustpan.

Jack sniffed again. "It smells really good. Are you sure you're not burning them?"

"I hope not." She picked up the potholders and opened the oven, heat rushed out of the small area, as well as the cinnamon scent. "Perfect." She lifted them out and placed them on top of the stove. "Sir would you mind handing me the frosting?"

Jack looked down at the bowl on the counter. He dipped his finger into it before handing it over. "It's good," he said, surprised. "I mean, it's not like I thought it would be bad, uh…you know what I mean."

Sam let the frosting drop from the spoon onto the hot rolls. "I'm not sure I do, sir." She said with a hidden smile.

"Well, I meant, you don't always… you talked about… you-" he stopped as a certain little girl walked into the room, her hair in more tangles then it had been when she first arrived, (if that was even possible.)

"Aveena!"

The little girl looked at both of them curiously before flashing a wide smile.

"Are you hungry?" Sam asked as she finished frosting. She sat the bowl aside and dusted off her hands. "There, I can actually bake something without burning them. Ha!" Instantly, she wished she hadn't said that. Being her CO, she felt the need to remain professional in O'Neill's presence. Yet, if Daniel were here, that would be another story.

"I'm starving," Jack said nodding, before realizing she had been talking to Aveena. "Oh! You mean her!" He turned around. "Of course she is."

Sam grabbed some plates and was about to get Aveena a nice big frosted one when Jack stopped her.

"No, no, no. That one is mine!" He said, his voice curiously reminding her of a young boy.

Sam noted it was the biggest and had the most frosting on it. "Yes sir."

Jack helped himself to the roll before settling down at the table. "So, what are we going to do today?"

----

"Sir, we cannot take her to the park. General Hammond ordered us not to take her anywhere with a crowd."

"Carter!" Jack complained. "I'm sure he meant somewhere with a large crowd, a park wouldn't have more then a dozen people or so. It's in the daytime anyway, most of the kids are going to be in school."

"Colonel…" Sam started.

"Fine, if not the park, where?" Jack placed his hands on his hips.

"Sir, she's fine here. I don't think she will mind not going anywhere today." Sam knew since the beginning of this 'babysitting' job, her CO would try talking her into taking Aveena somewhere, so she had prepared a few things to say, and now they all seemed disappear.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Carter, she needs to have some fun, and don't say it's fun to be locked up in a house all day, especially not for a little girl."

"I do own a backyard, sir." Sam reminded him.

"And it's like the size of my bathroom."

Sam crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, sir, but we are not going to disobey a direct order."

----

"Wahoo!"

Sam looked over at her CO as he reeled in his forth fish that day.

How did she ever let him talk her into this? Fishing? She hated fish! And she certainly didn't enjoy sitting hours in the hot sun, waiting for the stupid fish to grab a hold of her bait.

Jack happily placed his newly caught fish with the rest. He heard his 2IC sigh. "Carter," He said, turning to her. "Are you bored?" He fixed his line and released it back into the river.

Sam straightened her back and pretended to be interested in the 'sport'. "No sir, not at all."

"Carter, you do know that you're not supposed to lie to your CO. It's in the rule book."

Sam grinned, but quickly hid it as Jack turned to her again. "Are you going to court-martial me, sir?"

Jack hesitated, as if he was thinking it over. "No… I think I'll let it slide, this time. I think we'll have a hard time saving the world if we don't have you."

Sam was used to him complementing her about saving the world. She simply smiled. "Thank you, sir."

Jack grinned. "Well, it looks like she's having a lot of fun."

Sam turned to Aveena, who was tangled up in the line. She struggled to get out of it, but it only made it worse. She grunted as she viciously tried pulling the line off her feet.

"Hey, hey!" Jack said, dropping his pole and hurrying over to her. "You're going to get hurt if you keep that up, let me help."

Aveena stopped struggling and let Jack reach in to help untangle her. In no time at all she was free from the vicious line.

"There you go," Jack said. "Why don't you take mine, huh?" He reached over and grabbed his pole. "Here you go." He wrapped her hands around the large rod, and helped her cast it.

"So, do you really think she likes fishing?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, of course she does. And she'll like it even better when we actually eat the fish." Jack placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Isn't that right?"

Jack missed days like this. He remembered when he used to take Cassie with him to her cabin, and they'd fish all day. A couple years ago she got tired of it, and now, they no longer went fishing. She did come with him to the cabin, though; they'd spend their days watching _The Simpson's _on DVD instead.

Aveena let out a squeal.

"What's the matter?" Jack asked, as he looked down at her, he noticed something strong tugging on her pole. "Looks like a big one!" He grabbed onto her pull and helped her reel it in, while doing, Aveena was squealing in both surprise and excitement.

Sam stood up with interest, as she watched the young child and the not-so-young man reel in the biggest fish she had seen in a long time.

"That's a beauty, sir."

Jack pulled the slimy fish off the hook and handed it to Aveena, who quickly backed away from the smelly creature.

"Oh, he's not so bad." Jack said with a grin.

"Sir, I think-"

_Ring… _

Sam reached down for her purse and dug through it for her cell phone. "Major Carter speaking."

Jack looked over at her curiously.

"Yes, we have her, she's with us… no…"

Jack looked puzzled and turned to Aveena, who stared back at him with the same confused eyes.

"Yes sir, may I ask why?" She turned to Jack and shrugged. She covered the speaker and was about to tell him what she knew when the person on the other line continued.

She turned to the small girl and froze.

"Are you sure? … Yes sir. We'll be right there." She hung up the phone and shoved it into her pockets. "Sir, we have to bring her back to the SGC."

Jack turned from one girl to the other. "Why? What's going on?" He didn't understand, one day they were ordered to take the alien girl OFF the base, and the next they had to bring her back? What happened to make them change their mind? Unless Janet had found something in her tests…

Sam didn't break eye contact with Aveena. "I think it would be better if I let General Hammond explain it, sir. When we get there."

Jack nodded slowly. "Come on," He motioned for the child to follow. "We're going." He didn't even bother picking up the fishing supplies; he could come back for them later.

The girl must have sensed what was going on; she backed away from them slowly, as if she didn't trust them anymore.

Jack turned back. "Come on, we're leaving."

The girl shook her head, and continued backing away. She looked behind her, before turning back to her babysitters. Before anyone could comprehend what she was going to do, she made a dash into the forest they were surrounded by.

"Hey!" Jack shouted, hurrying after her. "Come back here!"

Sam picked up the chase quickly.

Aveena didn't know where she was going; she'd never been here before. She zigzagged everywhere, and hid behind trees and bushes whenever she thought Jack or Sam was getting close.

"Carter, what the hell is going on here?" Jack shouted, as he searched through the green forest, looking for any signs of a young child.

"General Hammond didn't tell me much, sir!" Sam shouted, as she jumped over several thorn bushes, scraping up her legs and arms. "He said SG-22 came back saying the planet knows that child! And she-"

"There she is!" Jack interrupted. He saw the pink T-shirt she had been wearing all day, through the openings of a large bush. "Carter, hurry around the other way!"

"Yes sir!"

The heard a scream coming from the bush, and a moment later Aveena rushed out of it.

"Hey!" Jack shouted, he caught up the distance between them and carefully tackled her to the ground. "Hey, you're not going anywhere!"

----

I may not be updating for a while. My younger sister is in critical condition after an accident. She has been airlifted to a good hospital and will have to have surgery on her brain. So, if I don't update for a while, this is why...


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